You’re at Stage 2 of 6: AI as a Simple Tool!
Congratulations on starting to explore AI! Using it for initial tasks is a great way to get familiar with its capabilities.
What This Stage Means
You use AI for basic, one-off queries, much like a search engine. The interaction is often limited to a single prompt, expecting an instant perfect answer. There is little to no iteration or follow-up conversation. You might primarily seek quick answers or simple information retrieval. You may believe using AI instead of Google means you've mastered it.
Examples
Using AI to look up facts, define terms, or get quick summaries of publicly available information. Asking for help drafting a simple email or taking basic meeting notes.
Limitations
This stage utilizes only a fraction of AI's potential. It doesn't account for the iterative nature of effective AI interaction. You might not understand the importance of providing context or refining prompts to get better results. Without your specific business knowledge, AI remains a generic tool, limiting its true value. Business impact at this stage is often minimal or tactical, such as minor help with emails, which is noted as not providing true business value.
Key Tips to Advance Your AI Journey
Embrace Iteration and Experimentation: Don't settle for the AI's first response. Ask follow-up questions, request clarifications, or ask it to try again with a slightly different instruction. The best way to learn is by doing and seeing how the AI responds to varied inputs.
Improve Your Communication (Prompting): AI's output quality directly depends on your input quality. Start learning how to write clearer, more detailed prompts. Think of it like giving precise instructions to an assistant.
Start with Familiar Outputs: Think about simple outputs in your daily work (emails, meeting notes, short summaries) that AI could help draft or refine. Practice using AI for these tasks.
Use the AI Empowerment Flywheel: Make it a habit to ask yourself, "How can AI help me do this?" at least once a day. This question generates awareness of potential use cases, motivates action (prompting), improves communication skills (leading to better results), and encourages you to ask more questions, creating a virtuous cycle of learning.
Be Aware of Basic Risks: Understand that AI can sometimes provide incorrect or nonsensical information ("hallucinations"). Start learning to critically evaluate its outputs and cross-verify important information.
Thinking Bigger: AI Across Your Organization
As you begin exploring AI for yourself, it's also a good time to consider how this journey might unfold across your entire organization. We poured our expertise into a Company AI Assessment to get it right. In less than 5 minutes, you’ll get an unprecedented AI Company Maturity report with detailed, personalized recommendations that meet your company where it’s at.
STEP 1: Take online assessment A fast and friendly rating of your company’s current AI sophistication
STEP 2: Get personalized results Generate detailed and customized recommendations for AI maturity
STEP 3: Engage your company Encourage colleagues to self-assess to get a free, multi-stakeholder analysis comparing and contrasting the different AI points of view within your company