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When I started writing this article, I had a plan to hook your readership with a profound opening quote. A heartening message or credo from a great innovator assuring us of the wonderous privilege it is to be here on this earth while mind-bending technology makes its way from the lab to our hands at rocket speed, every single day. I didn’t spend too long googling us a mantra before a pattern emerged. Many of the passages I found were cautionary or overwhelming theories about AI’s inevitable impact on the entire human race. All of them flooded me with trepidation. Even those who spoke excitedly about the practical uses of AI offered a promise so technical and beyond my own intellect that they did little to assuage my anxiety.  

I am a writer/editor by trade, parent to three teenagers, an avid reader, and a music fanatic… please excuse my festering in worry about the future of human creativity. (“What happens if no one has to do anything for themselves anymore? What if we all start to think exactly alike?”- This, on loop in my mind, all day, every day.) Coming up empty while looking for relatable messaging underscored my own disconnect between AI’s expansive impact on the world and… rather simply: how it can lighten my own daily workload.

And I’m thinking…. some of you might be the same.

This month’s newsletter isn’t intended to teach you any of the technical aspects of AI but, rather, it is an exploration of how we can open our minds to its usefulness and, in turn, use it to augment (not replace) our skillsets.

 

Using AI to shift our workloads

An Apple Podcast “The AI Daily Brief” follows the AI’s technological trends and influence on society. They recently shared a poll in which 69% of employees said they welcome automation that will free them up for higher value tasks. In the same study, 46% of employees said they like that AI can offer automation that reduces tasks repetitiveness and also improves the quality of their tasks.  Only 2% of employees said they wanted full automation that requires no human input.

A doctor friend of mine has put AI to use in a way that allows for deeper human input. He runs a busy family practice that sees many patients in a day and he explained that the complicated nature of insurance documentation was eating up too much of each patient’s appointment time. If an appointment window is 20 minutes, a doctor might need to spend 15 of those minutes filling out forms. That leaves only 5 minutes to visit with the patient. The fields on the forms are repetitive and though many patients share the same symptoms and ailments his staff was losing time writing a brand-new case narrative for each individual seeking insurance coverage.  As soon as ChatGPT became readily available, he trained his entire staff on how to use it to complete these standard data forms and shift that balance from tedious paperwork to patient care. This efficiency has allowed him and his staff to get back to what ignites their passions about being health practitioners. Not to mention, spending more time talking to patients can garner key details about their overall context which could be helpful in prescribing care.  AI is making them more successful at their work.

 

Taking a head-on approach to AI

For people like me who are defiantly still “doing it all,” the thought of meeting AI head on as a tool that can positively impact workload is a balm. If used prudently, it can free us up to concentrate on the parts of our jobs that are most rewarding. Being able to focus on the aspects of our work that are especially meaningful would certainly make us feel more engaged with our jobs.

We all surely differ in what we find tedious. For me, data entry tests my attention to detail and, in order to be careful, I move sluggishly, lose track frequently, become distracted…. automation would save me a lot of time and frustration. Your tedious task might be writing the weekly agenda and wrap up notes for your team meeting.

The technological “learning curve” is more like a vertical flat-faced mountain at this point. Isolating one thing in your workload that drags you down would be a good place to center your attention. Start researching how AI could help you with that single task and then learn whatever platform looks like the best fit. It might take a little time to navigate this new approach to an old, familiar part of your work but it’s worth it when you consider the time it will save later.  

 

Ideas for bringing AI into your daily workload

Business Insider developed a list of 10 ways AI is changing the workplace and it’s a worthwhile place to mine for ideas to bring AI into your own workload. Here are a few suggestions for how AI can be applied that might resonate with you based on your needs:

1. Generate survey questions
2. Customize legal contracts
3. Polish your performance appraisal
4. Locate job candidates

AI is on the tip of everyone’s brains and is already leaving an indelible mark on the way we work. Considering how to embrace at least one function of AI, deciding how you want to use it, and planning for its outcome will make you feel more in control than sticking your head in the sand. I promise I’ll try it too.