AI, yes, I said it. We hear so much about AI and how we should use it, but what is it all about? Traditionally, it was all about the face-to-face – a nod, an “Ey up”, or even fancy a cuppa.
The digital era helped us do things, but it was secondary to the personal approach. Furthermore, people felt they could get a good handle on someone by (and I quote) “staring into the white of the eyeballs”. I never knew why it wasn’t the pupils, but never mind!
How much AI do we need in Darlington? Well, according to the Small Business Entrepreneurship Council, 75% of the businesses they surveyed were using AI.
Elevate or Resolute?
So, at first, it was “resolute” Job Applications and elevating your marketing with rocket emojis. The language that AI uses can be considered not to be “normal” and can stand out a mile off.
In the last year, I have seen job applications, social media posts, and spam emails in which AI has been used. Did the person get the job, sale or personal data – I think not.
AI was missing the touch of a human, and I will be honest while I was seeing multiple adverts for using AI, I couldn’t see a meaningful application. That was until the last 6 months when things started to move.
Want to consolidate information? Need to summarise information, perhaps? AI is only as good as the information given; this includes the instructions.
Want a space frog eating a pizza? That’s what I got. However, I then went to the equivalent of the AI GYM!
Training your AI
You can take an AI model and train it on a data set. Feed it information and data – make sure it is the right data. Once processed, you can then ask it questions.
First AI Bot – AI 1
Me – tell me about the services of Hubspoke Media.
AI 1 response – I am sorry I don’t have any information on our services, however, here is a list of information about our services….
It then went on to list our services.
Artificial (lacking) Intelligence
So, no matter how much work I did. No matter how much data I gave it, I could not stop it from saying it didn’t have any information. Therefore, I had to regretfully put bot number one on notice and look for other options. This was not going to work.
Me – I am sorry I am going to have to let you go.
AI 1- I understand! If you have any final questions or need assistance before you go, feel free to ask. Thank you for considering Hubspoke Media, and I hope to assist you in the future! Have a great day! 😊
Implementing the solution
Having gone back to the drawing board (or motherboard), I started looking at other AI options; I wanted something better. And then I found it!
So, version two of the chatbot is here on our site! This AI is brilliant. After some thorough training and testing, it turned out that not all chatbots are created equal. I spent hours training, testing and talking to the AI.
Would they say something bad? Would they say something not representative of the business? No, it turns out I spent a lot of time snagging and developing the bot
Why AI though?
After all this, the question has to be, why use AI? Will it actually help? I will answer truthfully, I was blown away. The AI Chat bot or agent can quickly sumarise the content that your site visitors and interested in. It can then pull the relevant information and provide quick access to the relevant pages.
From a customer experience point of view it really can provide a quality experience, because it can consolidate the information into a relevant answer. For example:
My question: What services should I have to promote my business?
AI 2 Response:
To promote your business effectively, Hubspoke Media offers a range of services that you might consider:
• Professional photography and videography: These can help create visually appealing content to showcase your business.
• Written content services: This can help tell your brand’s story and engage your audience through various platforms.
• Marketing packages: Tailored strategies to reach more clients nationwide.
• Social media campaigns: Including paid advertising to increase your online visibility.
• Email marketing: To spark interest and engage with your audience directly.
• Social media presence development: We can help you find the right channels and develop your voice to connect with potential customers.
• Paid online and out-of-home advertising: This can provide focused traffic to your website based on your target audience demographics. These services can be combined or used individually depending on your specific needs and goals. Would you like more information about any of these services?
Read more here and here
In closing
My opinion on how AI is used has changed int the last 6 months. It is all about, as with all things, how you apply technology. Train, train, train. Chat bots in my mind can really help people and they can be set to hand off to humans when the time is right.
Do I think you should be stuck in an endless loop of AI chat like I was earlier today with a well-known online retailer – no, absolutely not.
Would AI replace the face-to-face interaction I mentioned at the start of this? No, absolutely.
Will it provide an opportunity to serve our customers and offer a better standard of service? Used in the correct way yes, absolutely.
Well, that is me and my AI ramblings over for today, if you have read this far and are wondering did Adam write this or was it AI – I did, as whilst I believe in the power of AI you really can’t beat the human touch.