Three Ways AI Can Help You Today

Artificial Intelligence – programs that “think” and “react” in response to stimuli - is much more accessible to you than you might think. A.I. is dramatized as helpful talking robots (like C-3PO from Star Wars), cars (like K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider), and houses (like J.A.R.V.I.S. from Iron Man). No, today you won’t find autonomous technology as a crime-fighting sidekick in every family, just an easy-to-use platform that will help you out.

If you need an answer or an idea, generative AI will help you. We’re all comfortable with querying a search engine (like Google) and being presented with a list of websites or a paragraph taken from a website as your answer. But ask an AI, and it will “read” the websites for you and present you with a lengthy response that weighs the pros and cons and scope of the solution, all in about 15 seconds or less.

You don’t need to be a supervillain, a billionaire, or from the future to use AI. You have free access to multiple generative AI tools right now. High school students use generative AI to write essays and answer exam questions. Now it’s your turn to have a go: use it to help you or your business make money!

Tips: 

• Use specific language in your prompt. Ask for what you want using descriptive verbs and nouns that will help the AI understand your request and generate its response. For example, instead of saying, “Create a logo” or “Write an essay,” ask for, “A blue logo of a wolf for a sports team” or “A 500-word essay on sustainability in small towns in the writing style of David Suzuki.” 
• To maximize your output, rephrase your request and ask again. Check out the image below; this generator gave me two images from each request using the keywords logo, wolf, and blue, adding a mix of objects (hockey, hockey stick, puck), or artistic style (impressionist, watercolour). 
• What you get might not be perfect, but it’s an incredible starting point for your conversation with a designer or wordsmith to finesse a final product that meets your needs.

1.     Get an idea for a promotional event. Ask your AI: "What’s a good idea for a promotional event for my retail business?" I asked ChatGPT and got this response:

2.     Develop a sales pitch. Ask your AI: "What's a good sales pitch for a piece of art?" Here’s what Microsoft Bing AI Chat replied.

3.     Get an idea for a product, event, or company logo. Ask your AI: "A logo for a company named Space Broccoli." Here’s what OpenArt gives us.

The ones listed below are top-tier quality and are free, free trial, or freemium.

• If you use Microsoft, their ‘Bing’ AI is built into their internet browser. Open Edge, then click the blue ‘b’ in the top right corner. Enter your request or question under the Chat or Compose tabs in the navigation bar.
• If you’re a Google loyalist, their AI is called Socratic and is particularly geared toward learning (read: answering homework questions).
• To use a web-based AI, try out the very popular ChatGPT by OpenAI or competitors Perplexity AI, Nightcafe, and ChatSonic. 
• On your mobile, you can download applications that specialize in text-to-image generation and photo modification, like Dream by Wombo, Picsart, or Canva. 

Depending on your needs – or curiosity! – there are AI generators that will do all sorts of special things for you, often for free. Examples include creating music, video, art, code, writing, molecular structures, building designs, etc. Remember to check the disclaimer section of the AI generator you use to make sure you’re following their terms of usage. 

*The cover image for this post was created using Canva.