016 - GenAI: Can it Take My Job Yet?

No. But it CAN let you do more cool stuff.

Hey Friends! I apologize for the brief pause – my life got *very* condensed in its amazingness for a bit there.

It's the end of the year. I feel like we should review Generative AI and some new products and discoveries. Does that sound good?  

You might not be on social media, so I'll tell you – the new playground insult is, "Well, AI is going to take your job anyway!" And to that, I say…. 🤷🏻‍♀️. Maybe? Possibly? I don't know what you do. But if your job entirely consists of things that GenAI can do, it will definitely do a large part of your job. But, if your job entirely consists of things that GenAI can do, then maybe you *want* GenAI to take your job because it's probably not that much fun.  

Now, that doesn't mean that you'll be out of a job. If GenAI can do most of the tasks in your job, then YOU are the perfect GenAI wrangler. Because you know not only what the inputs are but also what the outputs should look like.

I'm getting ahead of myself, though.

AI won't take your job; someone using AI will

Eh, I used to agree with this idea. But now I think it's too narrow for what GenAI will do to traditional professions. Instead of holding that job description in a bear hug, folks would be better off looking at all of the Tasks and Stakeholders instead. How can GenAI be leveraged to complete those Tasks and communicate with those Stakeholders? The next step is to look at the Tasks and Stakeholders you *want* to be working on/with and consider how GenAI can add those Tasks and Stakeholders to your New Job Description. (Or, you could figure out how to NOT add more tasks and stakeholders and instead take more time off – just a suggestion)

What can AI do for me?

Lots. I mean it. Simply mind-blowing things.  

Generate text – this is less mind-blowing when folks are using it to create termination letters using Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" as a model, but look around and think about what else uses text?  

That's right, literally everything – from the email you send to a client to the text you send to your friend, software applications, articles you read, and notes you take to brainstorming sessions. And it doesn't need to be the straightforward "give it to me plain" text. You could have a brainstorming session with Taylor Swift in her "Shake It Off" era, and I can guarantee that you'll get an idea you would never have considered.

Generate voice – well, voice and text are pretty close, right? But this isn't Alexa saying, "I'm sorry, I don't have 'War and Peace'" when you're trying to order groceries. This is *your* voice. Or someone else's voice. In conversational tones. With the proper inflection. 

As an aside, before my last presentation, I lost my voice. I already have a voice clone on hand through Eleven Labs and was considering breaking it out to do the talking for me.

Generate pictures – I'm sure you've seen the multitude of pictures that are being generated now. Cute or serious. Stock photos or impressionist art. Images make a difference in grabbing attention, and right now, we're working with clients who have A TON of things trying to grab their attention.

Transcribe and summarize meetings – all those notes you've meant to get to the team and clients? Now done instantly.  

Analyze and create reports on large data sets – have you ever wanted to talk with your data, but all you get are pie graphs that don't even show you the relevant bits? Or do you have small business owners as clients that want to know why they have no money but keep producing Profit & Loss statements that show lots of taxable income? Now, data doesn't have to be so challenging to navigate.

Analyze and extract data from photos and PDFs – yup, you could post a picture of your kitchen table and ask what items are on it. You can post a picture of a client's personal data and ask what information is being reported (please don't, unless you have an Enterprise-version AI). You can pop in an IRS Publications and ask about the things that are only relevant to you.

Have a conversation – like a full-on conversation. With your voice. And its voice. Like you're just chatting with a random person stuck in your iPad. And it's helping you craft client letters.

Generate video – recently, quality AI-generated videos have emerged as part of the technology. We started out the year not even being able to create pictures for a frame of reference on how fast this is all changing.

Train Robots – okay, this probably won't come up in your practice, but Meta created a GenAI that is being used to train robots in "dream states." So, instead of going out in the world, they can learn skills via this AI.

Oh no! All of this in a Year? I'm Dooooooomed!

Well, probably not. There are three things to keep in mind – 

1) The only thing AI *can't* do is be human. And sometimes determine left from right. Emotional intelligence skills are going to be far more critical than ever. And oddly enough, GenAI can actually help you learn these skills.

2) Clients will receive a TON of information. Like information overload. Generative AI is already flooding the internet and social media with garbage content. It is more important than ever to ramp up your communication in ALL of the different mediums to get your message through. GenAI can help you learn how to do this.

3) The silos between certain professions are going to be less pronounced than they were before. Think about partnering with an adjacent profession to bring your expertise. GenAI will be able to do the busy work, but someone must be the final set of eyes to approve it.