As previously published on 2/15/24 in MarTech
In the movie 2001: a Space Odyssey, the astronauts come to the frightening realization that Hal, the AI supercomputer, runs every aspect of the space station.
A discrepancy between the ground computer and Hal begins the process of the astronauts believing that Hal may be going rogue. When they ask Hal why there may be a difference between the two computer systems Hal responds, “It’s a human error, as it also is…”
Our first experience with AI began in late 2019 when we began experimenting with an IBM Watson application. We used an AI tool to profile the personalities of buyers to help a client narrow down the 17 personas that came from the product marketing group to 4 actionable personas.
From there, we built a business on the tool which we call personality based marketing. The enabling AI tools we use, Crystal Knows and xiQ, can quickly determine the personality of an individual using DISC segmentation.
Our second experience was right when Chat GPT 4.0 was launched and we added Jasper to help us with content and image generation. We used the tools to help generate content for websites and images to give our creatives a head start.
Honestly, we have had mixed results. The tool being prompt driven, made it challenging to get the output we desired. And given everything else going on in our business we really didn’t have the time to continue to learn and perfect the prompts. Plus,with each new release of the tool, brought a whole new set of best practices on prompting.
This has now led us to the third round of experimentation with an AI platform called Cassidy. The new tool is potentially a game changer for us and possibly the beginning of a modern day Hal. Unlike previous tools, Cassidy will learn about us on its own.
It has read our website, and it is integrated into our G-Suite, Chrome browser and Slack application. It will understand and communicate in our brand voice, act as an assistant, and execute its own workflows. For an organization like us, a fast efficient agency with little to no overhead, this can be a true game changer.
The future of AI is bright but it’s also going to be bumpy. We know there will be shortcomings in this new wave of technology. For example, based on what we have now observed using the first generation tools, we know that biases exist in the tools.
The second generation taught us that the output is only as good as the input. The age old saying of “garbage in, garbage out” is still true despite how smart the technology may be.
In fact, many believe that ChatGPT 4.0 is getting worse, not better, as it becomes more widely distributed. A discussion thread on Open AI Developer Forum from November entitled “ChatGPT is Getting Worse and Worse Every Day” includes 182 comments, all of them in agreement that things are, in fact, getting worse with each release.
Developers point to increasing error rates, low retention of previous commands and outputs, and general lack of support. Even going so far as to say the ChatGPT 3.5 performed better than the most current release of 4.0. So we can, for now, put aside our concerns that Hal is going to be taking control of the ship.
Be that as it may, we have built Business Development and Project Manager assistants with a knowledge base created by integrating our proposal and project drives. These AI assistants will be able to help our team increase efficiency and one day, automate the proposal writing process.
It’s also integrated into my Chrome browser so it’s reading my email, attending meetings, and archiving and indexing the websites I’m visiting. Perhaps someday soon, it will begin drafting and responding to my emails…on its own.
Until that day, it will require our time to shape it into what we want (or need) it to be. And that’s the point, we will make AI into what it will be, and many have done so already. And, even though we have moved from “machine learning” to machines that learn, it is a good reminder that “Artificial Intelligence” is actually better described as artificial human intelligence.
A technology built by humans, and trained on what humans have made, will not be perfect…just like its creators.
And in case you’re wondering, this post is 100% human generated.
