Fig O'Reilly 
Founder & CEO | Systems Engineer | Diversity in STEM Advocate

We have officially entered the Generative AI era with new tools popping up for use across virtually every industry. Why has this technology created so much buzz? Generative AI refers to the type of artificial intelligence that creates new content, which can range from images to text, to audio or music, to videos, and more. The key behind Generative AI is that it utilizes existing data to create something new. While the concept may seem straightforward, the real-world side effects are anything but simple.

Several apps on social media have gone viral with users utilizing the technology to generate various types of pictures of themselves. On TikTok, users can use filters to generate images of themselves as anything from mermaids to cartoon characters and more. Though, Generative AI tools aren’t just fun and games. In business, many are excited about its potential to help minimise timely tasks like writing copy, drafting email correspondence, making presentations, and streamlining processes in marketing and even data analysis.

Harnessing the technological power of AI at work is not without its caveats. Industry insiders and thought leaders have been sounding off about regulation and its long-term effects. And for good reason, many industries rightly are apprehensive while evaluating the bigger questions of how the transformative technology could affect jobs and are unpacking the possible ramifications of AI and human ingenuity.

While a sense of wariness in adopting any emerging technology is healthy, the possible benefits and applications of Generative AI are boundless. Generative AI has great potential not to replace us, but to assist us in individual and collaborative efforts in innovation and creativity. As individuals, we face new ethical considerations when using the tech in our work. 

Among these include the opaque nature of these systems, meaning that AI algorithms are not always transparent, and many businesses don’t know how their AIs are analyzing data and making decisions based on that knowledge. This could lead to AI’s learning from databases of information that include human biases, which could ultimately lead to bias affecting the AI’s decision-making process. Bias in AI could perpetuate and amplify racism, sexism, and other prejudices. 

Depending on your industry, consider tHe Ethics

Additionally, we must consider ethical boundaries when creating new content. In some industries, it may be helpful to use content that is AI-generated. In other industries, it could be harmful in that it could render certain jobs obsolete or infringe on rights. For example, in marketing, AI-generated copy and imagery could streamline a marketing campaign and cut down on costs. 

Though in journalism, failing to cite AI-generated content could perpetuate misinformation or even be considered plagiarism. Can you represent AI-generated work as your own? Should AI be considered your co-author? What if it pulls from copyrighted material? Who could be held accountable?

The recent Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strike was brought about in part by the existential threat of writers and actors potentially being replaced by AI for film and TV projects. The entertainment industry has already begun to revolutionise the future of AI and human labor. Though this example may seem like something straight out of an episode of Black Mirror, the challenges that artists are facing are very real.

While the technology raises a lot of big questions, there are many useful and ethical ways to incorporate it to our advantage in small ways. So how can we harness its power? Many experts agree that AI should improve workflows by helping manage time-consuming and repetitive tasks, though we should avoid using the tech to replace human ideation altogether. After all, there’s nothing else like human ingenuity. 

Consider leveraging AI as a supporting tool, freeing up time and mental resources, so you can concentrate on strategic thinking, ideation, innovation, and creative problem-solving. It is crucial to strike a balance, ensuring that AI complements what we bring to the table rather than replaces it. Additionally, adding assistant AI tools to your toolkit may complement your creative process. Generative AI can aid individuals and teams in bringing novel ideas to life rapidly.

By incorporating productivity-enhancing Generative AI like Otter.ai, Genei, Grammarly, and Beautiful.ai into workflows, you can reclaim valuable time, improve efficiency and organisation, minimize redundancy, and simplify complex tasks. Several of these offerings have features that make it easier to bring your ideas to life. Explore these four innovative tools and how they can help you leverage Generative AI to produce your best work.

Try out these 4 tools 

Otter.ai: Transcribe and Collaborate Effortlessly

Imagine an assistant that can transcribe lectures, meetings, interviews, speeches, and more in real-time for you. Otter.AI is a tool that is transforming note-taking and saving valuable time with its use of speech recognition technology. The app integrates with several platforms and can automatically generate notes for meetings held on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet. Don’t worry if someone in your meeting will be sharing slides, Otter.AI can capture key ideas by automatically inserting the slides into the meeting notes. Streamlined note-taking can improve collaborative efforts for teams. You can even search specific keywords within the transcribed notes, making information retrieval simple. Whether you are a busy professional, student, or educator, you can use Otter.AI both in-person or virtually to improve the efficiency of your workflow.

Genei: Intelligent Document Management

Tired of spending an excessive amount of time sifting through documents to find the information you need? Genei is an AI-powered summarisation and document management tool making research faster. First, upload various types of text-based information sources, Genei then analyzes the content, summarises the material, and organises it into meaningful categories. Not sure where to start your research? Search keywords or topics, and Genei will find relevant articles and documents related to your topic area and provide notes and overviews of the content. Talk about magic. This tool could vastly improve organisation for those of us that wind up with a headache-inducing amount of tabs open when doing research.

Grammarly: AI Writing Assistance

Writing can be a very time-consuming task for many, and Grammarly is making written communication simpler with its Generative AI writing assistance tool. Grammarly, which has been gaining in popularity, uses machine learning and natural language processing to analyze human language to offer writing suggestions that can help you define your writing style, discern your tone of voice, increase clarity, address tangled sentences, and improve word choice. The tool offers real-time grammar and spell checks, suggests vocabulary enhancements, and even incorporates style and tone recommendations for users. Additionally, it helps to identify when text may need citation and sourcing information. Polish emails, articles, blogs, essays, social media posts, and more, or create a brand tone to streamline your business’s marketing materials.

Beautiful.ai: Smart Presentations

Perfect your pitch or impress your boss with your next presentation built with Beautiful.ai. Common problems encountered when creating presentations include translating ideas, concepts, visuals, graphs, and more into effective slides. Building a deck from scratch can be time-consuming, as is scouring the internet for imagery that correlates to your presentation’s needs. Beautiful.ai is addressing these problems with its AI presentation tool dubbed the DesignerBot and smart slides which allow users to simply describe what they are looking for in a deck which will then automatically generate populated slides that include content and information you provide. The slides are editable and the AI can assist with text summary and writing tone suggestions.