The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into the modern workplace has significantly transformed the dynamics of how we perform our tasks, make decisions, and interact with digital tools. Among the stellar performers in the AI domain right now is ChatGPT and its generative AI counterparts. As businesses increasingly embrace these tools, there’s a need to ensure that they’re utilized effectively and responsibly.
Let’s dive deep into the nuances of using AI tools like ChatGPT for work purposes and bring you practical tips to harness its potential.
WHAT’S DIFFERENT ABOUT USING AI FOR WORK?
When integrating AI into the workplace, it’s not just about making tasks easier; it’s also about adhering to business protocols, maintaining privacy, and ensuring consistency.
Let’s Talk Secrets: You and I both know that what happens in the office stays in the office. While ChatGPT and its buddies promise not to remember our little chats, it’s best to play safe. There are controls in the settings menu for ChatGPT and Bard to turn off using your data for model training. Claude by default does not save your data for training purposes. But still, keep the same precautions when you use the internet at work, don’t upload confidential information.
Consistency is King: Here’s a tip: ChatGPT and Bard both allow you to save your conversations. Keep your different tasks in a separate conversation, that way you can come back to the one you like for writing emails and keep using it to get similar results.
Is Your AI Up-to-Date? ChatGPT’s got a load of info, but it doesn’t know the latest and greatest. Make sure you’re using Bing Chat, or ChatGPT Plus with Browse with Bing turned on to ensure your answers are from the latest information on the internet. Bing Chat will show the sources of where it gave you the answers from; Bard also has a Google It option that allows you easily fact check.
Your Brand, Your Voice: AI’s smart, but it might not sound exactly like your brand. Give its outputs a personal touch to ensure it sings in tune with your brand’s voice. The easiest way to do this is to put your brand voice guidelines in the Custom Instructions dialog in ChatGPT settings. You can provide examples of text in your brand voice, or summarize the tone of your brand voice.
Authorization? Check! Make sure you know what your company’s policy is for what tools you can use and what you can’t. Also, your productivity suite might dictate which ChatBot you have access to, Bard is on the Google platform and Bing Chat requires Microsoft account sign in to have extended functionality.
Is AI Lurking in the Shadows? Sometimes, the tools you use every day have hidden AI features. Check the website of your every day work platforms like your CRM, email app, or workflow management to see if they’ve announced AI features. These can be some of the best ways to leverage AI at work because they’re already integrated into your existing tools and workflows. If you see ones you really like, check with your IT team to see if you can get those turned on.
COMMON USE CASES FOR GENERATIVE AI IN THE WORKPLACE
Talk to My Documents: Generative AI can help in summarizing long documents, suggesting edits, or even identifying key points. This is particularly useful for quickly grasping the essence of lengthy reports or contracts. You can also ask specific questions of your documents so you don’t have to hunt through for a specific piece of information. Claude is the best tool for this.
Data Questions: When confronted with massive datasets, use AI tools to ask questions directly about the data. For instance, “What was the sales trend in Q3?” This can save time in data navigation and interpretation. This is the Advanced Analytics mode for ChatGPT Plus, but remember to turn off allowing your data be used for model training.
Presentations: Creating impactful presentations is now simpler. With AI, you can generate slides based on content or even get suggestions for design and layout to make your slides more engaging. Check your favorite design tool to image suggestions or even image generation options! Canva has the functionality to generate a full presentation from a few sentences about the topic, the slides will include the content, images, and design layouts!
Best Practices: ChatGPT can be a great tool to help draft best practice documents, guidelines, or SOPs by providing industry-standard practices or giving structure to the inputs you provide. Also ask it for examples by the top players in your industry to give you good role models to choose from.
Communication: The most common use case is of course to help draft any communication, from Slack messages, to full presentation scripts. You can easily ask it to generate more than one version in different lengths, different formats, and even add a joke. It’s better to get options and play editor when you have generative AI as your copywriter assistant.
HARNESSING AI FOR SUCCESS
Practice is Key: Like any tool, the more you familiarize yourself with AI, the better the results. Spend time understanding its capabilities and limitations. Best way to start is to just try.
Feedback Loops: Always double-check AI-generated outputs. Once you’ve edited it to be how you want it to be, save it as an example so the AI follows that example to be better next time.
Stay Updated: The world of AI is evolving rapidly. Regularly update your tools and stay abreast of the latest advancements to leverage their full potential. Did you know that ChatGPT just added image analysis capability?!
As the workplace becomes more digitally intertwined, Generative AI tools like ChatGPT can be powerful allies. However, their efficacy depends largely on how we use them. With the above tips and tricks, you will definitely be ahead of the curve.
Check out our portfolio of companies under the PEAK6 umbrella to see how we are leading and innovating in our industries — including with AI tools. Fun fact: all the images in this blog were generated by AI.