• by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, November 6, 2024

If you’re reading this column, there’s a good chance you use Generative AI in your professional career.  At the very least, you tell people you’re using it, and you’re able to differentiate between ChatGPT, Microsoft CoPilot, and Midjourney.  That’s a good start.  These tools are valuable; however, most people still don’t know how to use them daily, and there’s a very clear reason why.  In fact, there are three clear reasons: habits, collaboration and ego.

The most important reason why marketers resist these tools is they are difficult to make a habit.   For something to become a habit, it must be easy, seamless and become part of your day-to-day.

For me, the use of Generative AI jumped from a novelty to a habit when we started paying to have Google Gemini inside our G-Suite of tools.  Doing so put the Gen AI tools directly in front of me, and Google did an amazing job of reminding me when these tools could be useful.  It became like having a Gen AI coach sitting next to me suggesting how I could shift my day-to-day and be more productive.

Now I’m using Gemini every day, in every document, improving what I write, gathering insights and creating a fully seamless integration of AI.  It is more efficient because I no longer bounce from browser to browser, copying and pasting content from one place to the next.  My content development is exponentially faster, and I would even say better than when I simply did it all myself.

That last sentence is another hurdle for people to overcome:  ego.  When using Gen AI you must recognize two things.  What it creates is damn good.  In fact, it is far better than you would have done by yourself in the same amount of time (which is seconds).  That being said, it is far faster and what it spits out is simply an incredibly advanced place from which you can jump from and continue writing.

You should never just copy, paste and use what it spits out.  It will sound like a Gen AI wrote it.  You still need to work it and add the human touches, check the details and verify the sources.  In doing so, you will end up with something better than if you did it yourself.  Put aside your ego and realize that it helped you a lot, and you are OK to rely on it as a tool.

Third, these tools need to be collaborative.  Most of us are working in a cloud-based environment these days, with many people working from home.  Tools like Google and Microsoft are set up for collaboration, allowing multiple people to work on them at the same time, from different locations.   These Gen AI tools are embedded in those collaboration tools, allowing everyone to benefit.  If you remember, the collab software market felt clunky for time, until it didn’t.  The same can be said for Gen AI.  It feels clunky at first, until it doesn’t.

We are the dominant species on the planet simply because of two reasons:  We have opposable thumbs, and we can adapt to almost anything.   This too will give you the chance to adapt and be flexible.  Doing so will create new habits and new ways to collaborate, if you can set your ego aside and realize that the old ways of doing things are no longer as important.

Are you up to the task?