3 Ways to Use AI as a Time-Saving Tool

Almost half of Canadians (49%) agree that products and services that use artificial intelligence make them nervous, according to an Ipsos survey for the World Economic Forum. Interestingly, the survey found Canadians scored higher than the global average of skepticism towards AI. Trust was another aspect; one-third of Canadian survey respondents (34%) agree that they trust companies using AI as much as they trust other companies.??

AI has been around since the 1950s. Although mainstream use of AI came later and propelled significantly, it remains a matter of debate; and it’s important to consider the implications and applications for this technology. AI can, when employed ethically, present advancements that would otherwise seem unfathomable. Medical professionals are beginning to use AI tools for diagnostics. The Mayo Clinic is a prime example; it uses leading AI tools and technologies to help those with and at risk of developing heart disease.

Healthcare is just one of many industries using AI, and its benefits can be seen daily for businesses. The same can be said for ethical AI use on a personal level, with ample opportunities to use tools that give you more time back in your day.

Implement easy smart home integrations?

The concept of a smart home is no longer shrouded in mystery or reserved for sci-fi movies; it's tangible with most smartphones. Voice recognition technology materialized in the 1990s — consider the breadth to which it has grown since then. Today, we can choose between Josh.ai, Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant, and Cortana based on our preferences. We can use voice commands to activate appliances and stream playlists once the right apps are connected to a central home base, for example, Google Home.?

I have a Google Home implementation with over 30 endpoints in my own home. Personally, I enjoy enhancing my media system with coordinated lighting and utilizing voice commands to operate lights, my robot vacuum, and window blinds. Using a robot vacuum, I save roughly 10 hours of cleaning time per month, equating to approximately five days per year. But voice command-enabled systems are not restricted to home use. I use this technology to trigger flows for the morning news, update my drives with traffic reports, and manage my schedule. Small AI integrations can go a long way in your daily routine.?

Level-up productivity with user-friendly tools?

In 2022, Canadians in full-time employment worked an average of 39.3 hours per week, and those working part-time averaged 18.9 hours. It’s likely workers in both full- and part-time positions could have saved a percentage of time in their workdays with a user-friendly AI tool. AI-powered productivity tools are aplenty, including Mem and Motion for project-based work, Grammarly for writing, and Otter.ai for capturing conversations, ultimately saving time on note-taking.

During my respective tenures at Autodesk and ETRO Construction, I used Otter.ai religiously. I continue to use it at my own company, LEVEL. Otter.ai records audio, provides real-time transcriptions, and produces automated meeting summaries. It’s valuable because I can search through months of agendas and meeting minutes to find points of reference; in business technology, holding this powerful tool in my arsenal is invaluable. I feel the same about InfraNodus — a tool designed to promote ecological dynamics that works well for building new intellectual relationships between talking points and digging deeper into issues. InfraNodus is a go-to resource for building inference networks on large bodies of text or meetings with countless interesting conversation points.?

Of course, like most, I’m enjoying OpenAI’s language model ChatGPT. To date, I’ve worked on an extensive essay depicting how Persian culture has persevered through many occupations. I’ve also debated with ChatGPT the losing position that "BIM is going out of style and paper-based drawing is coming back" to the AEC (architecture, engineering, construction) industries. When used responsibly, ChatGPT can assist with thought-starters and get creativity flowing.

Explore the benefit of AI in the AEC space

A city brimming with development can benefit from AI use, and Vancouver is a perfect example. Developers are striving to build as efficiently and safely as possible and bring new supply to a market with overwhelming demand. AI tools can be assigned repetitive and time-consuming tasks during this process. Developers, general contractors, and architects can use the feasibility platform TestFit for space planning needs and cost insights, for instance. To help streamline costs and operations for more complex or large-scale projects, development, construction, and design teams can roll out Aditazz.

OpenSpace is another notable AI tool empowering professionals in the construction space to automate reality-capture information into actionable results on job sites. Owners, trades professionals, and general contractors may use this intuitive tool to regain time in their work schedules.?

Like anything, AI tools require an initial time investment for familiarization. Once unfamiliarity is overcome and trust is built, the above tools can take certain tasks off your plate, giving you more time in your professional and/or personal life. If you integrate any of the above-mentioned time-saving AI tools, drop me a comment to let me know how it goes.?