AI in Business | May 16, 2024

Welcome to this week's AI in Business newsletter! This week, we're exploring the latest developments in AI technology and its applications in business.

From OpenAI's launch of GPT-4o and new voice capabilities to Deloitte's survey on Gen Z and millennials' views on AI, we've got you covered.

We'll also dive into how Perplexity uses AI to build its AI business and provide a step-by-step guide on how to use Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to reduce hallucinations and leverage your own data.

Plus, we'll feature Taskade, a multifunctional platform that integrates project management, personal productivity, and AI-powered automation.

Stay ahead of the curve and discover how AI can transform your business!

Top AI in Business News Stories

OpenAI Unveils GPT-4o and New Voice Capabilities

OpenAI has launched GPT-4o, a new multimodal AI model that combines text, vision, and audio processing, achieving new performance benchmarks. This model offers improved performance, faster generation speed, and higher rate limits, making it a significant upgrade from its predecessor. Additionally, new voice capabilities enable real-time responses, emotion detection, and multimodal interactions.

Implications for Average Businesses

The launch of GPT-4o offers exciting prospects for businesses to innovate with AI. Its real-time voice and multimodal capabilities transform AI from a mere tool into a dynamic collaborative intelligence. This upgrade is particularly significant for users previously limited to older models like GPT-3.5, now accessible at no cost. With these enhancements, businesses can explore new applications such as instant customer support, multilingual interactions, and enriched content creation, enhancing both customer engagement and operational efficiency.?

We highly encourage you to take a look at the use case videos here - some of them are mind-blowing - what a cool time to be alive.?

Report: Gen Z and Millennials Optimistic on AI

德勤 's 2024 Gen Z and Millennial Survey, which involved 23,000 workers across 44 countries, reveals mixed feelings about AI's future role in the workplace. While there's optimism about AI improving work-life balance and enhancing job efficiency, there's also concern about job security, with 60% of workers fearing job losses due to AI-driven automation. Additionally, less than half feel that their employers are providing adequate training on AI.

Implications for Average Businesses

The findings from Deloitte’s survey highlight several important considerations for businesses:

• Invest in AI Training: With only 45-51% of younger workers feeling they receive sufficient AI training, businesses need to enhance their training programs to build confidence and competence in AI technologies.
• Address Job Security Concerns: Businesses should communicate openly about how AI will reshape roles rather than replace them, focusing on AI as a tool for augmentation rather than substitution.
• Encourage Reskilling: Given the proactive stance of millennials and Gen Z workers towards reskilling, companies should support and perhaps fund their efforts to adapt to new technologies.
• Leverage AI for Efficiency: Emphasize the positive impacts of AI on work-life balance and job efficiency to foster a more accepting and optimistic view among employees.

These strategies can help businesses better prepare their workforce for the inevitable integrations of AI and maintain a competitive edge in the evolving job market

How Perplexity Uses AI to Build its AI Business

Perplexity, a rapidly growing AI company, integrates AI across all its operations. asking AI-driven questions to streamline processes from product management to HR. Their teams are small and autonomous, minimizing coordination costs and management layers, and they rely on technical talent capable of independent decision-making. They focus on technical project managers and engineers who can directly contribute to product development without needing extensive management.

Implications for Average Businesses

Incorporating AI into the core of Perplexity ’s operations is a compelling strategy, especially as they use AI to enhance the development of their own AI-driven products. This recursive use of AI not only optimizes their workflow but also ensures that the technology they build is deeply integrated and responsive to real-world applications. This approach could serve as an inspiring model for SMBs, showing how embedding AI at the foundational level can create a powerful feedback loop that continuously improves products and services.

Perplexity's approach offers valuable lessons for SMBs aiming to harness AI for growth and efficiency:

• AI-First Approach: Like Perplexity, SMBs can use AI tools to answer fundamental business questions, reducing the time spent on decision-making processes.
• Minimizing Management Layers: Adopt a lean management structure. Fewer managers and more doers can accelerate project completion and reduce overhead.
• Empowering Small Teams: Small, empowered teams can be highly effective. Encourage teams to operate independently with clear goals, mirroring Perplexity's model to foster innovation and agility.
• Technical Skills in Non-Technical Roles: Invest in training your team to use AI tools for various functions, allowing even non-technical staff to perform data analysis and manage customer insights more effectively.
• Iterative Development: Implement a culture of fast iteration and flexibility in planning. Allow teams to adapt quickly to new information or tools that could impact your business strategy.
• Using AI for Routine Tasks: Automate routine and administrative tasks with AI, enabling your staff to focus on more strategic activities that add greater value to the business.

By adopting these practices, SMBs can enhance their efficiency, adaptability, and innovation, leveraging AI to stay competitive in a rapidly evolving business landscape.

AI in Business 101 - How to Use Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to Reduce Hallucinations and Leverage Your Own Data

What is Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)?

Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) is a technique used in AI models to improve their accuracy and reduce hallucinations (providing false or misleading information). RAG works by augmenting the AI's training data with your own business data, allowing the AI to reference specific documents, URLs, or information you provide. It combines the best of both worlds: the creative ability of generative models and the factual accuracy of retrieval systems.

How to Use RAG in Your Business

Many off-the-shelf AI products, such as ChatGPT and Copy.AI, are trained on large datasets. However, these datasets may not always be relevant to your specific business needs. By using RAG, you can augment the AI's training data with your own business information, making the AI more accurate and relevant to your business.

Step-by-Step Guide to Using RAG in Off-the-Shelf AI Products

1. Identify the AI product's RAG capabilities: Check if the AI product you're using allows you to upload documents, reference specific URLs, or input custom data. This feature may be labeled as "Custom Data," "Knowledge Base," or "Reference Materials."
2. Prepare your business data: Gather relevant documents, URLs, or information that you want the AI to reference. This could be product descriptions, company policies, customer testimonials, or industry reports.
3. Upload your business data: Follow the AI product's instructions to upload your prepared data. This may involve creating a custom knowledge base (Copy.AI) or uploading documents to the AI's platform (ChatGPT, Claude.AI).
4. Craft specific prompts: When asking the AI a question or generating content, include specific prompts that reference your uploaded data. For example:

• "Write a product description based on the information provided in our company brochure (uploaded document)."
• "Summarize the key points from our latest industry report (referenced URL)."
• "Generate a customer testimonial based on our case studies (uploaded documents)."

Example Use Cases

• Product Descriptions: Use RAG to generate accurate product descriptions by referencing your company's product catalog, datasheets, or brochures.
• Industry Insights: Augment the AI's training data with industry reports, research papers, or news articles to generate more accurate and relevant insights.
• Customer Testimonials: Use RAG to generate customer testimonials by referencing case studies, customer reviews, or feedback forms.

By following these simple steps, you can leverage RAG to reduce hallucinations and make off-the-shelf AI products more accurate and relevant to your business needs.

Featured AI Tool of the Week - Taskade

Taskade is a multifunctional platform that integrates project management, personal productivity, and AI-powered automation to enhance collaboration and efficiency. It supports real-time task management, content creation, and life management through a flexible, user-friendly interface. Taskade ’s standout features include customizable AI agents for automation, AI-enhanced collaboration tools, and versatile templates for various workflows.

Possible Use Cases:

• Project Management: Taskade excels at managing projects of all sizes. Users can create tasks, subtasks, assign due dates, set priorities, and visualize projects using kanban boards or mind maps. Teams can collaborate in real-time, assign tasks, and track progress seamlessly.
• Content Creation: Taskade's AI agents can assist with content ideation, writing, and optimization. Users can leverage AI to generate blog posts, social media updates, marketing copy, and more, streamlining their content strategy.
• Personal Productivity: Individuals use Taskade for personal task management, daily planning, goal setting, and note-taking. Its flexibility allows users to adapt various productivity methods like GTD, Pomodoro, and more to suit their needs.
• Education and Group Studies: Students and educators utilize Taskade for group projects, study sessions, and assignment tracking. Its collaborative features facilitate learning and make it easier to manage educational activities.
• Event Planning: Taskade's timeline view, task assignments, and reminder system make it an effective tool for organizing events, ensuring all details are accounted for and deadlines are met.
• Life Management: Many users employ Taskade as a centralized hub to organize various aspects of their lives, such as college, finances, personal development, and task management.
• AI-Powered Automation: Taskade's AI agents can automate routine operations like scheduling meetings, sending reminders, or organizing documents, freeing up time for more strategic activities.

Key Functionality

• Real-time collaborative task management with kanban boards and mind maps
• AI-driven content creation and optimization tools
• Customizable AI agents for tailored automation solutions?
• Integrated chat and video calls for enhanced communication

Benefits

• Facilitates efficient project management and content strategy execution
• Automates routine operations, freeing up time for strategic tasks
• Enhances collaboration with AI-powered chat and brainstorming tools
• Adaptable to a wide range of professional and personal applications

Drawbacks

• Possible learning curve for new users
• Limited external integrations

Cost

Taskade offers a free version suitable for individual use and simple task management, with premium plans starting at $8 per user per month that includes advanced features and greater customization.

Conclusion

Taskade is a powerful tool for businesses seeking to enhance productivity and creativity through advanced AI capabilities and robust project management features.

For more details, explore Taskade.

Stay Tuned and in Touch

Thanks for reading this week's AI in Business newsletter! If you're looking for more insights and conversations on leveraging AI in your business, be sure to check out our CEO Zach Giglio 's recent podcast episode with the American Marketing Association . In this episode, Zach joins the Charleston Marketing Podcast to discuss the latest AI trends and strategies for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), solopreneurs, and marketing agencies. Listen now on Spotify, YouTube, Buzzsprout, or the AMA’s website.

We hope you enjoyed this week's newsletter and look forward to staying in touch.

If you have any questions or topics you'd like to see covered in future issues, please don't hesitate to reach out. Until next time!