How Small Business Owners Should Get Started With AI (Artificial Intelligence)?

Are you as a small business owner looking to see how you should get started with AI? You need to start small and work up to real integration with your business processes. The major issue with AI is something called hallucinations — the situation where AI makes up content instead of returning “real” data. Here is an article by IBM that goes into what is in detail.

To start with, you should use AI as your personal virtual assistant. I recommend you use it to “answer questions/lookup content” and include the source of the content. For example, “How should I care for orchids….include source list?” This allows you to review the content sources to make sure it is not something like Onion.com or something that is fake!

Next, you should move to having it help you create content. For example, as a residential realtor, you need to write property descriptions. I can use something like ChatGPT to create this content as a rough draft that I can then polish up before publishing. In the AI, I would ask something like “Write a property description of approximately 350 words using Tom Perry tone for XYZ address. Please include property features (copy/paste list of features).” It will use various public databases and your personalized content to write a description that fits those requirements. Another example…..as a small business owner, if I have some artwork or logo that somebody has created for me, I can upload it into an AI and ask, “What are the CMYK, RGB, HEX, or PMS colors in this artwork file?” An AI will review the artwork and give you the specific colors used. This allows you to create a cohesive branding when doing things like making letterhead, creating a presentation, designing social media posts, etc…..

Now you are ready to start looking at a more integrated or complex usage of AI. This is where you need to start working with an IT professional that specializes in AI. For example, check in with Mike Cruz @ House Reno Profits! He has an AI virtual assistant tool that can be uploaded with your specific company information. We call this “training an AI”. Now this AI can reduce your human employee time spent to answer phone calls by screening out the spam, answering the general questions directly, and redirecting the calls based on content to the specific employee responsible for those types of calls (sales, account questions, product questions, etc…).

Give me a call if you want some help getting starting on your AI journey, or need some help finding the correct AI professional for the specific need you want solved. Tasks that are repeatable are prime candidates for AI. Some examples would be various invoicing/billing tasks, answering phones, responding to social media, responding to some website queries, etc….

Smart Home AI

AI (artificial intelligence) has become the latest “tool” for home automation and smart enhancement. As with any IT upgrade, you have to remember that you are trading privacy for features and functions. For most of us, this is an acceptable trade-off. Remember to consider that something has to have access in order to “respond” when you speak a specific command, function based on camera data, etc…. If you work from home, make sure you consider your industry/work security requirements before install AI or just smart home features. For example, a smart TV that responses to voice commands might not be appropriate in your home office if you have meetings via your computer or in person involving proprietary, government, or other very sensitive client data. Especially if that TV is functioning using a foreign based service.

Combining smart home features and functions with AI can take your home experience to the next level in automation, security, and personal convenience (or frustration if it is not working correctly). Josh.ai (https://www.josh.ai/) is one of the top currently available AI services that specialize in home automation. Chaptech IT (https://www.chaptechit.com/) which is located in Orange County, CA is an amazing service provider for integrating technology in larger estates/properties.

The key to understand is AI is great at responding in a specific way based on specific inputs….especially multiple inputs. For example, a simple technology we are all familiar with is the thermostat. You set it to turn on AC if temperature is greater than X and turn off AC when temperature is lower than Y. A smart thermostat would combine that basic ability with a connection to the internet so you can interface with it via your phone (i.e., when you are not at home), controls so it can decide if AC, heating, or just fans would be the best solution for the temperature specified by the owner, and some basic logic ability to make these decisions. AI would take this to the next level. One example might be integrating skylight controls, windows, and whole house fans into this setup. Now the AI can determine confirm that it is not raining, so the skylights can be opened if needed, entire house fans can be used instead of AC, windows can be opened/closed as needed. Inside and outside temperatures can be monitored so the most energy efficient solution can be selected for the client’s desired home temperature.

This is just a heating/cooling example, but smart technology or combining it with AI can be used for everything from vacuuming floors to pool controls to kitchen appliances to solar/wind power generation. Technology for your home is exploding, and how you enhance your home to improve its value or your experience will become one of the major differences we will see. If you are thinking about making changes or preparing it for selling, you need to think about smart technology. The infrastructure to make it work like wiring is a great upgrade to consider, even if you don’t plan on using it yourself. It enhances the value and gives you options in the future. Anytime you open up walls you should be thinking about if you need to make any changes to water, electrical, insulation, or basically anything that goes inside the wall.

Give me a call, text, reach out via this website; if you have questions and need some help making “smart” decisions!