Exsomnis leadership snippets

AI: From gimmick to game-changer Part 2

Fri, 11 Oct 2024 00:01:33 GMT

Using AI for summarising documents (whilst not getting fired!)

If you’re new to using AI and took the challenge from my previous post, you’ve probably had a play with ChatGPT by now.

In a recent simple LinkedIn poll, I asked managers about their use of AI at work (results above): if you're one of the 29% who's totally new to this then this article is for you!

So far I've found that summarising documents in AI is definitely the biggest win for immediate timesaving at work. It's incredibly easy to do, and once you start, you'll wonder how you ever managed without it. But before diving deeper into how to do this there are some key warnings to consider, especially regarding New Zealand’s current policies.

Important Warnings About Using AI at Work

If you want to avoid joining the growing ranks of New Zealand’s jobseeker benefit club, keep the following in mind:

The NZ government wants to push AI technologies, especially in healthcare. BUT there are crucial privacy and safeguarding requirements that you MUST adhere to if you work in the public sector - and these form a useful framework for other sectors too.
Key principles and requirements (specifically for health) are set out in this important NZ DPMC document: https://www.pmcsa.ac.nz/artificial-intelligence-2/ai-in-healthcare/
It's VERY IMPORTANT to check out your organisational policy re the use of AI (all public sector entities are required to have one). If you work for Te Whatu Ora (Health New Zealand) they have some clear principles and policy settings which are very helpful and essential reading if you want to keep your job whilst exploring AI productivity. Their summary position is: Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora DOES NOT ENDORSE the use of LLMs or Generative AI tools where non-public information is used to train the model or used within the context of the model
Very simply, if you want to use AI for summarising documents:

ABSOLUTELY DO NOT upload patient identifiable or other restricted or confidential information
DO stick to uploading documents that are, or can be, in the public domain
DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT linking your organisation's databases into AI
SEEK ADVICE from your IT or policy team if you're not sure

I have a separate document with key points on all this for healthcare staff and happy to send you if you drop me an email to pete@exsomnis.co.nz

Summarising Documents with AI

Back to this week’s focus—summarising documents.

I used to be impressed by colleagues who seemed to have read every page of weighty documents at national meetings, making them appear smart, well-informed, and on top of things. For most executives, this was likely weekend work. But with the sheer volume of public sector documentation, keeping up is nearly impossible. AI can be a game-changer for you in this, though there are a few considerations:

It might not pay to be too much of a smart arse! Especially the case if you have an old style manager who thinks they need to know more than everyone in the room and you pitch up with a breathtaking surge of new knowledge at your management team meeting
Be careful, sensible and responsible with what you upload into AI - assume you're putting it into the public domain and be very mindful of the principles above
AI probably won’t pick up ‘insider nuance’. For example: in a quarterly performance report which states “ The data for this metric needs further analysis to ensure accuracy and is therefore not included this quarter ”. This might actually mean “ This is so bad there’s no way we’re putting this out ”. So for important documents that are very relevant to your role be careful of oversimplification …. some things are always going to need thorough human reading

Best Applications for AI Summaries

1. Summarising publicly available documents

An example: I wanted a summary of the recently released Te Whatu Ora document ' Achieving the Health Targets '. I downloaded this to my laptop and then uploaded into ChatGPT, asking it to give me a bullet point summary which took about 3 seconds. I then asked it to tell me about what actions were being proposed and finally if there were any actions specifically for primary care. Through three quick questions taking about 30 seconds in total I got exactly what I needed.

2. Summarising your own documents

Try asking ChatGPT to summarise your own writing. This can help ensure that the key points you intend to convey are clear. If the AI summary differs from what you had in mind, it might indicate that your document needs a rewrite and so is a great cross-check tool.

How to Summarise Documents Using AI

Prompts are the instructions you give AI to get what you want. When it comes to summarising documents, layering your prompts is key - determining how much detail you want and asking follow-on questions accordingly.

Step-by-Step Guide :

Step 1: Download the document you want summarised onto your computer

Step 2: Open ChatGPT (if you’ve signed up, it should log you in automatically)

Step 3: Start a new chat by clicking the pen and paper icon at the top left

Step 4: Use the paperclip icon on the left hand side of the text box to upload your document

Step 5: Type a prompt (like the examples below) into the 'Message ChatGPT' box

Step 6: Click the arrow on the right of the message box or press return and your results will appear in seconds

Suggested Prompts:

Prompt 1: “Give me a brief, one paragraph overview of this document.”

Prompt 2: “Give me a bullet-point summary of this document”

Prompt 3: (For more specific information)

“What specific actions are being proposed in this document?”

“Are there any deliverable dates for these actions?”

“Can you expand on bullet point 4?”

“What are the next steps proposed?”

Once you've uploaded a document you won’t need to upload it again for follow-up questions. If the output isn’t quite right, just keep asking for more until you get what you need.

Finding documents online

This can be incredibly helpful and timesaving. In researching policy for this post I asked ChatGPT: "Can you find the New Zealand DPMC document on the use of AI in healthcare?" It not only found it, but gave me an immediate bullet point summary. I then asked for a link to download the document for myself.

Using your AI generated Summary

When you log back into ChatGPT, your previous chats will be listed on the left side. (PS If you want to tidy up your chat list, hover over a chat, click the three-dot icon, and select 'delete'.)

Here are 3 ways you can use the summary you've generated:

Copy and paste the text into a separate document.
Take a screenshot of your bullet point summary and insert it into a document or presentation.
Ask ChatGPT to download the summary into a specific format (e.g., Word or PDF). To do this use a prompt such as: “Download the bullet-point summary into a Word document.”

Tip 1: ChatGPT’s default font in Word is not great (in my opinion). To get a better starting point, you can add this to your prompt: “...and use Aptos font" or whichever font your prefer.

Tip 2: ChatGPT struggles to download directly into Powerpoint. This will undoubtedly develop over time but there are loads of third party apps that do this and this is a fast-moving development area which I'll cover in a future post.

. Hope that's helpful to get started on this great time-saving use of AI!

From gimmick to game-changer

Fri, 04 Oct 2024 00:37:27 GMT

AI overview

This article serves as a beginner’s guide for managers who want to explore AI tools. It emphasizes how AI is evolving rapidly and is now integrated into everyday tasks, such as online shopping assistants. The author highlights that AI is no longer just a gimmick but a practical tool that can boost productivity and save time at work.

The article focuses on accessible AI tools, like ChatGPT, and encourages readers to experiment with them. It also explains the importance of well-crafted prompts to maximize AI’s usefulness. Future posts will offer more detailed guidance on using AI effectively for specific tasks.

AI: An introduction to boosting productivity for managers Part One

If you're a busy manager and haven't yet found the time to start having a play with AI tools then this article is for you

Most of us will have been using AI tools already as organisations increasingly build them into their online content. If you do your grocery shopping online with Woolworths that little 'Olive' assistant is one of a myriad of AI tools we're now encountering. The question for managers is whether AI is a gimmick for tech-savvy nerds, or whether it can actually help boost productivity, save time and make life easier.

The first thing to know is that the world of AI is moving REALLY fast. In fact it's moving so fast that specialist trainers are struggling to keep up. If you check out You-Tube videos on the subject then anything that's 2-3 months old is probably out of date. Almost every week now the main platforms are enhancing capability to stay ahead of what is now a huge competition for pre-eminence.

What are AI tools?

AI tools are software or platforms that use artificial intelligence to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. These tools leverage machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), computer vision, and other AI technologies to automate, optimize, or enhance various processes. In short, there are a staggering range of AI tools out there providing highly specialist task support in creating videos, translation, programming, data analysis and so on. But for this intro we'll just focus on what's useful for normal people and ignore all the jargon.

Are AI tools just gimmicks?

Six months ago I would have said yes - especially for most of us who are juggling huge workloads and don't have much time to fiddle with unnecessary things. However, with developments this year, and increasing understanding of how to use AI in the real world, I believe we're now at a tipping point where:

AI can be extremely helpful in saving us time and effort
AI is absolutely going to be a game-changer in how we work in the very near future - whether we like it or not

For those of us of an age who remember the first PCs coming into workplaces, or still prefer to save things on our computer so we know where they are, this intro article is your wake-up call: we're on the edge of a mega shift in the use of technology at work and we're going to have to adapt . Or be left behind, working at the equivalent of snail mail vs email .

Take a first step - have a play, it's kind of addictive!

If you're working for an organisation that uses Microsoft Office tools (especially MS 365) you'll start to see Copilot AI appear in Teams, Word, Powerpoint, Excel etc. over time, if not already. Copilot is in my view going to be THE game-changer daily use tool over time as it is a version of AI that is gradually being interwoven throughout MS Office. But for now, we'll focus on ChatGPT because:

It's available online to everyone
Most people have heard of it
It's really easy to use, and
It's free - at least for starting off

A note about costs

General AI platforms usually allow you a free daily allowance of their 'brainpower'. If you ask AI to create an image for you (e.g. "Draw a picture of a dog and a cat undertaking an operation on an elephant") this will use a lot of its brainpower and you'll quickly use up your free daily allowance. You'll then have to wait until tomorrow to keep playing, or some platforms will switch to a lower brainpower previous version which is ok for basic tasks (maybe). But if you're asking AI questions or to do simple tasks you can get a lot done in your free day. If you start using it a lot you can take out a monthly subscription. Most platforms charge $20-$30 a month .... definitely not needed when you're starting out.

Getting started

I remember when a family friend bought a ZX Spectrum computer and we were invited round to see it. With great anticipation it was switched on and as I looked at the TV screen I asked "So what does it do?". "Well you have to programme it to do things" came the disappointing response. You may be asking the same when you look at the blank box in ChatGPT - don't worry I'll be helping you with that step by step in following blog posts!

For starters simply:

jump onto the internet and search for ChatGPT ( produced by Open AI)
I'd strongly recommend you sign up (remember it's free) so you have a log-in because ChatGPT will remember and keep everything you've asked it
in the text box where it says 'Message Chat GPT' just ask it something and press enter/return or the up arrow on the right hand side. Here's some examples to type in if you need some help getting started:

Tell me how to prepare for undertaking an employee appraisal for one of my team
Give me a personal plan to loose 2kg of weight over the next 3 months
Write me a bedtime story for an 8 year old child about a cat called Twiddles
Draw me a picture that I can use for a social media post about ....

Prompts

The examples above are what we call 'prompts'. Prompts are simply the question you want answered, or the task you want AI to do for you. The more detail you provide, the better the response you'll get. Think of it as asking a small (but extremely intelligent) child to undertake a task .... explain what you want as simply and clearly as you can.

The key to getting what you want out of AI is using well phrased prompts and I'll provide some great examples that will really help you in future posts.

So, now over to you to give it a go and have a play - enjoy!

Prompt: 'Draw a picture of a dog and a cat dressed as surgeons and operating on an elephant'