Columnist Bethan Blakeley The power of instinct and context I large dataset. You can point to a lake and say look at those t seems wrong of me, as the analytics columnist for Impact, boats, and, because of the human ability to understand context, not to mention artificial intelligence (AI). Ill be honest a toddler would clock what a boat is. An AI tool would need to Ive been skirting around the topic for a while. The reality be fed thousands of data points explaining what a boat is before of writing for a quarterly means that my content is due to that link is made. be with the editor about two months before its published and As a human, youre also much better at interpreting analysis that can be a real sticking point when it comes to topics that and results than an AI tool. You can look at a headline and your move fast. AI, as weve all seen, is certainly one of those topics. gut will tell you nah, that cant be right. This instinctual feeling On the news the other day, ChatGPT and AI, in general, were that comes from your expertise, combined with your personal described as the new industrial revolution. That is big. Some experience and the context of the situation, puts you in a much things come and go in this industry; you hear buzzwords being better position to understand whether things feel right or thrown around and then suddenly disappear. AI is not one of make sense. those buzzwords. In fact, the noise just seems to be getting Another way in which you have the upper hand over AI is in stronger and stronger, with more people asking questions and disseminating and communicating wondering what the fuss is about (and the findings of your work. Yes, you a large proportion wondering if theyll may well use generative AI to help lose their jobs to it anytime soon). Some things come and go in structure your story, or proofread Lets start there. As far as I see it, this industry; you hear buzzwords being thrown around and then your work, but you know your no you will not be losing your job. suddenly disappear audience better than the AI. You The number of people employed in know the tone of voice thats the research and analytics industries appropriate, how to land a difficult may fall by a small percentage, but message, and the context thats needed. you will not walk into the office (or join a Zoom call) and see a All in all, your odds are looking pretty favourable. That doesnt robot sitting where Pam used to sit. Generative AI tools (that is, mean its time to sit back and relax in fact, very much the AI tools that can generate new data themselves) will become opposite. Glance at an agenda for any high-profile event in the normalised in the industry for their ability to streamline certain research and analytics space now, and youll see several talks on arduous processes, making you more efficient at your job. This is AI, ChatGPT, the metaverse and more. People are getting to where the small percentage decrease may well come from we grips with these tools and making them part of their day to day. might end up with a team of 28 instead of a team of 30 because If youre not, you will eventually get left behind. everyone is more efficient. The good news is that there are countless resources online, Having said this, there are multiple reasons why a generative many of which are free, to learn the ins and outs of these tools. AI bot will not be sitting at your desk doing your job for you So, get out there, get your inquisitive hat on, and get your hands anytime soon. Turns out, being human has its advantages. dirty. Download them and have a play for yourself. Get involved I recently read an article that explained, in scientific terms, why in conversations and hear how others have been using them a 2.5-year-old toddler is smarter than generative AI. AI uses a and learn from their mistakes. large dataset to detect patterns and generative AI then uses those You might be better than these tools in isolation, but youll be patterns to generate new data, similar to the old data its already even better again once theyre part of your everyday toolbox. investigated. Toddlers (and humans in general) do not need a 41 Impact ISSUE 42 2023_pp40-41_Bethan Blakeley.indd 41 16/06/2023 17:14