No longer an idea of the future, AI is everywhere you look; in business software, on personal devices, gaming consoles, you name it. AI opens up endless possibilities and while the list of things it CAN do is extensive, there are still lots of things it CAN’T do, at least not without your help.
Artificial Intelligence CAN:
- Work with large data sets
- Identify patterns and improved workflows
- Improve data accuracy (when trained appropriately)
- Be available 24/7
Artificial Intelligence CAN’T:
- Factor in emotions
- Be creative
- Make ethical considerations
For the areas where AI can be helpful, it still requires a human touch. How do working with data sets, identifying patterns and improving workflows fit into your day to day? The application that works for you and your team won’t be the same as what works in other roles and for other teams.
When it comes to the things AI can’t do, human expertise is crucial:
- Factoring in emotions: some AI is fairly advanced and can be trained with logic to create outputs that more closely resemble human emotions like empathy and sympathy:
The answer our DirectBot gives in the example above is as good as any communication a human could provide in the same scenario, but it can’t relate to or feel sorry, it simply knows it is the appropriate response. A person on the other hand, can relate to and understand the feelings that come with a variety of emotional situations.
2. Being creative: AI can come up with exceptional creative designs, but they are limited by the instruction they are given. After producing a requested design, AI does not make adjustments without further instruction. AI doesn’t look at a design and recognize that a slight angle adjustment or subtle change of hue can significantly impact the final output. Without the right detailed instructions, AI will also interpret a prompt in many different ways and it is up to a human to understand and decide which of those ways is the right fit.
3. Making ethical decisions: at the end of the day, AI is a tool. How it is used, is up to the person or persons teaching and prompting the AI to complete a task. Without logic, AI does not know right from wrong. It requires specific guidelines to know what is appropriate and acceptable for the task at hand, it doesn’t have a gut check.
AI has many practical uses (and many impractical uses), but the question of AI taking over a significant number of human jobs, is far from probable in our current environment. It can be a great asset in the hands of the right people, a tool for efficiencies, and problem solving, but it needs guidance, direction and creative inputs to maximize its effectiveness.
-Paige Sandvold is a Marketing Manager on the Revenue Growth Team
