Embracing AI: Balancing Technology With Human Needs in Business Artwork

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The Water Trough- We can't make you drink, but we will make you think!

Embracing AI: Balancing Technology With Human Needs in Business

October 23, 2024 • Ed Drozda

Excited or uncertain about AI? Join me as I reflect on the impact of artificial intelligence on our lives and businesses. Discover how we can embrace technology without losing our human touch. #Podcast #ArtificialIntelligence #Business"

0:10

Welcome to The Water Trough, where we can't make you drink, but we will make you think. My name is Ed Drost of The Small Business Doctor, and I'm really excited you chose to join me here as we discuss topics that are important for small business folks just like you. If you're looking for ideas, inspiration, and possibility, you've come to the right place. Join us as we take steps to help you create the healthy business that you've always wanted.

Microphone (Yeti Stereo Microphone)-1: 0:46

Welcome back to The Water Trough. This is Ed Draws, the Small Business Doctor. I've been thinking a lot about artificial intelligence, and I'm admittedly not too sure where I fall on the spectrum of accepting, rejecting, or just being tremendously, clueless, about this artificial intelligence. It is a. Profoundly important change in our life as many things before it, the invention of electricity, the invention of so many things, so many things in my lifetime, having been born in the 1950s, I've seen a lot of things happen, but nothing with the magnitude of artificial intelligence, nothing that seems to have the potential. to change the world in absolutely unimaginable ways. So where does my ambivalence come from?

Microphone (Yeti Stereo Microphone)-6: 1:48

In addition to being a business person, I'm a university professor. And as a professor, it's my goal not only to teach students about topics that I'm familiar with, but to inspire them to think critically so that they can use that information that they've learned to create new things.

Microphone (Yeti Stereo Microphone)-5: 2:11

In other words, not to accept the status quo simply for the sake that it exists, but to use that as a springboard to new and greater opportunity and potential. This to me is the critical function of education. When I think about this critical thinking process, It then takes me to the world of business. Artificial intelligence can serve a large number of purposes. Obviously, the limits to it are not even, are not even fathomable at this point in time. I'm sure they're going to far outweigh anything that we can imagine. But at the bare minimum, artificial intelligence allows us to Review to observe, to consider such large amounts of information in literally seconds, far more information than we could access, process, or understand in a lifetime. It gives us access to information at such a rapid pace and allows that information to be.

Microphone (Yeti Stereo Microphone)-3: 3:43

and in the world of academia, our goal is to inspire students to learn, not only to learn, but to inspire them to learn and what I mean by inspiring to learn is to be able to take the information provided and utilize it, to construct, to create, to produce new things. It is that critical thinking process that goes into that creation that I think is the key to education. And so when I look at artificial intelligence,

Microphone (Yeti Stereo Microphone)-4: 4:21

I see it as a tool which allows us to grasp and process far more information than we could on our own. But on the other hand, I also see it as an opportunity. To bypass that very important critical thinking process, in the business world, it may not be so black and white as I see it in the world of academia.

Microphone (Yeti Stereo Microphone)-7: 4:51

In the business world, realistically, profit is the first thing on our minds. We want to make money and in the meantime, we obviously want to be able to provide and to sell our services and our products. The ability to readily grasp all of this information easily and then further to be able to process it certainly supports the idea of being able to be more effective and more efficient in the business world. AI gives us opportunities in business that we could not have had before. However,

Microphone (Yeti Stereo Microphone)-8: 5:33

I do believe it's important to keep in mind that human interaction is necessary to make a business work.

Microphone (Yeti Stereo Microphone)-7: 5:41

Some will say that in an effort to boost profitability, we can simply abandon our human element and rely strictly upon vast amounts of information and incredibly. Expeditious information processing and achieve the bottom line, the profitability by taking away employees by removing the drudgery, if you will, of hiring and maintaining employees, paying benefits and all the expenses associated with that. We can put our money into the owner's pockets. Now, at a fundamental level, I get this, I understand, but at an emotional level, I really can't get my arms around it. My intention for this podcast is not to dissuade anyone from the notion of artificial intelligence. Number one, it's not going away. Artificial intelligence is here to stay. It is going to grow. It is going to consume much of our time, attention, and, I presume, much of our current way of doing business. Now, using that to positive effect is absolutely important, but I do, for myself anyway, want to remember that the human side of things plays a big role. I can't imagine, for example, an artificial intelligence form being able to do what I do as a business coach or to serve as a university professor. I might be wrong, and it may well be that somewhere down the road, perhaps not in my lifetime, AI will replace both of those roles. In my own estimation, I wouldn't want to see that happen. I sincerely hope it doesn't happen. And it's not a selfish thing where I'm not looking to be replaced. It is because I truly believe that we all depend upon, we all need this sort of human interaction. What I'm really doing here is, blabbing on, about my own thoughts, my reservations, my concerns, and my hopes for artificial intelligence. I think it behooves all of us in business, all of us as individuals, humans in this world, to take a good hard look at AI. We're not going to make it stop, we're not going to make it go away, as I said, this particular episode is more of a personal reflection.

Microphone (Yeti Stereo Microphone)-10: 8:38

Hope is that it will inspire you to think about your own perspective on AI, what it means to you and what is, uh, what's coming down the pike. by the way, this episode was generated completely by artificial intelligence. It's not me that you're hearing. It's contrived. Strictly by AI. And the voice? Well, that's a fabrication too. Okay, I'm just kidding. But the truth be told, it is not that far fetched. In fact, of course, it happens today. What's real, and what's not real, is anybody's guess. Hey, this is Ed Draws with a small business doctor. Of that I'm sure. And, I want to wish you a healthy business, And I hope a clear perspective on what's going on.