It’s early 2024 and you’d have to live under a rock to not have heard the buzz about generative AI. While some people are speculating about where it will take us in the future (both good and bad) many others are trying to figure out whether or not it is useful in the present. I’ve been doing a lot of my own research and playing with various generative AI tools currently available (Chat GPT, Bard, Claude, etc.) and have decided that for now I do find these tools useful for my business. This blog is a brief overview of my thinking and some of the expectations you can have from me as I integrate generative AI in my business.
Why I’m Choosing to Use AI
Efficiency
The main reason I have decided to use generative AI tools in my business is the pure efficiency of it. As a small, single-employee business I have a lot to do in a given week. My profit margins are tight and efficiency is a very real consideration in my work. When you are a small business owner, especially in healthcare, you are constantly having to balance your time between client-focussed activities and your business considerations. As much as I enjoy running my business, I got into this work to be with my clients, not manage a blog, learn complicated tax law, or develop a side hustle as a social media manager. Because of this, I believe I can focus more on my clients and offer the best possible therapy I can if I can free up some of my brain space in these other tasks. Generative AI allows me to take my ideas and easily turn them into blogs, social media posts, and website copy, allowing me to share information I think will benefit my clients and beyond, without taking me from my essential work.
Research and Data
I am only one man. I read…alot…. but still there is so much information I will never even come into contact with. Generative AI however is touching most of it, constantly increasing its knowledge stores and useful information. Leveraging this reality means I can focus on my ideas and get some help expanding and deepening my awareness of the data that supports or challenges me. When I’m developing an idea about the neuroscience of therapy for example, I can easily increase my awareness of the peer reviewed research, the information available to me on the structures of the brain, and how it fits together with therapy in a fairly simple search with an AI tool. As a therapist that highly values evidence based practice this means I can stay up to date with what the scientific community is saying and integrate it into my practice more quickly.
Client Centered Value
Both of the previous points are under the overarching umbrella of this final one. All of my work comes back to my clients. Am I using my time in a way that supports them? Am I considering multiple angles and seeking their best in the work I’m doing? Though I think AI can be abused, I also think that with some thoughtful application it can help support and maintain the client focus in my business. In everything I do, the main question I’m always coming back to is, “Does this benefit my client in some way.”
What you can expect from me
Cited sources - AI and more broadly
In this new age it can be hard to know who wrote what and if a person or machine wrote what we’re currently enjoying. One of my core values is transparency and to that end I will always list credit when I’ve used an AI tool to augment any writing I’ve done. Furthermore, whenever I have a source referenced in my writing I will either link to it or describe where the info has come from.
Synthesis of my thoughts and AI efficiency
Another thing I don’t feel good about or comfortable with for my business is publishing anything that is fully developed by generative AI. Instead of asking an AI tool to write a whole idea I instead will have it support my writing process. While this can look different in different moments it often looks like me developing a detailed outline and then having the AI help me flesh it out and turn into something more substantial. Furthermore, once I’ve written something I can then easily convert that writing into another form (ie. Blog to instagram post). You can count on the ideas, tone, and direction of everything I’ve published coming from me and not a machine.
Fact checked.
AI systems are fallible and have a tendency to “hallucinate” coming up with ideas that sound great but aren’t actually true. When it comes to information and facts, anything I’ve published has been checked and given a thumbs up. I only try to share the highest value information possible.
Hopefully in reading this you’ve come to a better understanding of how I’m currently thinking about and using generative AI tools at this time. This field changes super rapidly, so I’ll likely have to update this as my thoughts and feelings evolve, but for now I hope this gives you some understanding!