AI Unwired: Embracing the dawn of AI to make AI an ally at work.

Last week, I had the privilege of hosting a talk on the rise of Artificial Intelligence and its anticipated role within the organisation of one of our clients.

The audience comprised a wide-ranging group of professionals, from the AI-curious to those with more developed understandings. This presented an ideal opportunity to delve into AI’s complexities, whilst crafting a dialogue that was comprehensible and engaging for all.

Our goal was to shed light on AI's positive potential for organisations and brands and despite a recent backdrop of negative speculation, we endeavoured to illustrate there could not be a better time to initiate learning about AI and use these learnings to rationalise popular misconceptions about AI's purported plans for job usurpation, security breaches and widespread misinformation.

By walking through practical examples of AI and its’ advancement, we were able to translate these abstract concerns into comprehensible insights, demonstrating the potential for AI to enhance organisations company-wide and uplift, develop and create new opportunities for colleagues across the business.

Our deep dive into AI began with a historical journey. We crafted a simple timeline that traced the footsteps of AI, from its conception and through each successive decade. We explored the evolution of AI and peered into potential future advancements, taking time to understand each iteration.

Building a foundational understanding allowed us to discuss the fundamentals of computing, data, and algorithms and aid exploration into the magic that happens when we pose questions and prompts to AI on some of the latest platforms.

Our discussion was focussed on deconstructing complex terminologies associated with AI, such as machine learning, decision trees, support vector machines, random forests, K-nearest neighbours, genetic algorithms, neural networks, and deep learning to enable all colleagues to become comfortable with how AI works, something that is rarely talked about or understood.

We advanced our dialogue into high-tech realms like computer vision, natural language processing, reinforcement learning, adversarial networks, and a subject stirring a measure of trepidation — neuroevolution… (AKA, AI becoming smarter than the smartest humans).

Our exploration of the many different types of AI, started with narrow AI, we then navigated through the potential implications for organisations as a shift towards strong or general AI moves closer to reality.

Importantly, we didn't shy away from the contentious milestones—artificial superintelligence and quantum AI—which may cause public apprehension.

The discussion sparked some brilliant, inquisitive discussions, including queries about generative AI's impact on the creative and artistic fields, emotional AI, and computers' capabilities to reason and respond to human emotions and how AI can contribute towards a more sustainable planet.

After exploring the theoretical side, we took a practical look at AI capability with a hands-on demonstration of AI in action, using tools to generate 2023 consumer trends and insight, automating powerpoint presentation slides and AI-generated visuals, all hosted by an AI avatar, to simulate human-like interaction using AI.

We wrapped up by showcasing a variety of available AI resources and signposted some of the latest developments to keep an eye on. These included AI-driven technologies with the potential to humanise smart devices, inspirational talks from AI optimists seeking to harness AI for good, and the very latest AI tools available to try at home.

At the end of the session, we reached a consensus that the new era of AI demands our attention, and that now is a good time for organisations and individuals to embrace the opportunities that AI has to offer, investing in building AI knowledge across the business and taking a step towards a future where humans and machines work together harmoniously for the benefit of all.

AI has been a topic of interest within Blue Square and across our group of agencies at Brand Partnership Group for several years. The explosion that is Gen AI has further fuelled our focus with Pulse, our strategy and insight agency.

We are excited to share that we are creating a Pulse bitesize AI webinar series which will be launching next month. If you’re interested in joining or want a copy of the session, get in touch. Like most things Pulse, it promises to simplify the complex and provide a degree of ‘So what?’ to get you moving in the right direction.

The future is happening all around us at a rapid pace, a great opportunity to get ahead and explore the endless possibilities that Artificial Intelligence is destined to bring.