b"(continued from page 4)In the area of performance reviews, employees willSupplier and customer evaluations. Will a prospec- benefitfromone-on-oneconversationsthatdiscuss tivecustomerbeabletopaytheirbills?Willawhy targets were achieved in some areas and not in Vendorcloseupshopbeforedeliveringcriticalothers.Thehumanmanagerneedstoprovidethe materials? Because AI can analyze data so deeplyencouragementthatanAIprogramcannot,said itcanfigureoutthatsomethingislikelytogoMaymar. Personal interaction is necessary to trans-wrong at an organization long before a human canformanobjectivereviewintoanopportunityto spotproblems,saidTripathi.Thisallowsthegrow, coach, and share knowledge. business to take the appropriate action to avoid a hit to the bottom line.Getting startedBusiness plans. What is the best course of actionWhile AI holds promise for any business enterprise, for a business over the next three years? Into whatitcanbedifficulttogettheballrolling.Experts newmarketsshoulditexpand?Artificialadvisestartingwithsimpleprojects,encouraging intelligencecanlayoutapotentialbusiness everyone to participate. Figure out a way to make direction,alongwithanappropriatemarketingAIacommonpartofdailyoperationsthroughout plan,saidMaymar.Itwillprovidestimulatingyour business, advises Delaney. Schedule learning ideasandaclearpathtofollow,evenifcurrentperiodssothestaffbecomesfamiliarwiththemanagementlacksanMBAorformalbusinesssystem. Delaney compares the role of ChatGPT to education.that of Microsoft Word twenty years ago. What was anoveltythenhasbecomearoutinepartofthe Laying groundworkbusiness world.While AI can increase company profitability by lend- Experimentation will be necessary, and that can lead ingefficienciestoalloftheaboveareas,thefacttosomefailures.Businessesneedtokeepinmind remains thata watchful eye isessential for ensuringthat if a certain operation doesnt work particularly that the activities of the new technology are accurate,well with AI right now, it may do so in the future. empathic, informed by human experience, and alignedAIprogramsgetsmartreallyfast,saidJoe with company values. We should not think of AI asKarasin,anAIconsultantandSEOspecialist. As some kind of magical process, because then we wouldyoucontinuetotraintheprogram,itcontinuesto lacktheunderstandingofitsinternaloperations im prove,andgivesyoubetter,moretargeted necessary to criticize its performance, said Delaney.information. We need to know that it has limitations, that it can't givealltheanswers,andthatthere'sstillvalueinAmajordriverfortheimprovementofAIcross-checking everything it does.performance is the ability of the human operator to writeeffectivequestions.AIlearnsfromtheExperts advise using a two-step process in every areacorrectionsanindividualmakestotheirprompts, of company operations. That means letting AI do theandwithrepeatediterationsdoesabetterjobof foundational work, and then having a human check forproviding productive results, said Karasin. At the errors of fact and nuance. same time, the human operator learns how to fashion prompts that bring productive responses. Someexampleswillmakethisclear.Despitetheir While the AI learning curve may seem daunting, its sophistication, AI-fueled customer service interactionswise for every business toget an early start, even at canstillseemtone-deaf.Thatswhyahuman abasiclevel. Managers need to become aware of representativemustusuallystepinaftertheAI howAIworks,andhowitcanbeusedasaforce programhascompletedsuchfoundationalworkasmultiplierforbusinesscapabilities,saidMaymar. performing an initial analysis and assessing metrics. Everyone is going to be using AI pretty soon, and you dont want to be the one left behind. The best With promotional initiatives, too, experienced humansthing to do is to ride the wave now instead of being needtocomeinandchecktheworkprovidedby buried in the crest as it goes over. artificial intelligence. While AI programs may seem[End of story. Sidebar follows] valid on their surface, very often they lack the human elementthatmakessuchinitiativeswork.,saidMaymar.Withoutthehumantouch,theycanseem soulless. (continued to page 13)11"