AI Like New Technology, Do You?

BY AMORNRAT SIDHU

Artificial Intelligence (AI) platforms have undoubtedly debuted with a bang, sparking endless debates on their usefulness and convenience versus whether they will take away human jobs and kill creativity. Not to mention the ethical concerns surrounding generated images and ‘deepfake’ videos. Nevertheless, AI is here to stay, seamlessly integrating itself into our work and personal lives. It’s helped countless users, and the Thai-Indian community is no exception. Masala asked community members to give their insights. 

SONIA SIDHU

Managing Member, Instant Value Investments

MAI Perspective

I am, personally, wary of AI. I suspect that dependence on AI can potentially reduce creativity and eventually groom human beings into not vetting the information that is produced. With that being said, I cannot deny the usefulness of AI and the convenience of it during my day. Thus, I use it, but with caution.

How AI Use It

• As marketing is not my area of expertise, thinking of catchy phrases would take up a lot of my time, therefore ChatGPT has helped with productivity in that area.
• I use Microsoft AI Meeting Assistant (Microsoft CoPilot) to help me record and transcribe my meetings. It helps with recalling important discussion points, and I simply need to refine the notes a little
• I have Grammarly to help me catch errors with my business proposals and reports.

AdvAIce

Follow GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out), which basically means that the more precise your input, the more sophisticated your output. For example, a search of “write a business retail proposal” vs “write a business IT retail proposal” would provide different results, where the former would provide less refined information than the latter. Moreover, whenever you use AI, always vet the information that is produced in order to make the information relevant to you, while also keeping your personal touch.

NANDINI SINGH SETHI

Category Manager, eBrands

 MAI Perspective

The decision to adopt AI apps and platforms stemmed from the need to enhance efficiency, accuracy, and customer satisfaction in our operations at work. As a category manager, AI plays a pivotal role in streamlining various tasks. We utilise AI primarily for demand forecasting, trend analysis, customer segmentation, and personalised recommendations. Additionally, AI assists in optimising pricing strategies, identifying fraudulent activities, and enhancing search and navigation experiences.

 How AI Use It

• AI-powered Assistants: My mornings often involve sifting through mountains of sales data and competitor analyses. AI-powered tools like business intelligence (BI) dashboards with natural language processing (NLP) capabilities come to the rescue. I can ask questions in plain English, like, “What’s trending in the wireless headphone market?” and get instant insights with visualisations. This saves me hours of manual report generation and lets me focus on strategic analysis.
• Predictive Analytics Platforms: Staying ahead of inventory fluctuations is crucial. I rely on AI-powered forecasting platforms that analyse historical sales data, seasonal trends, and even social media buzz to predict future demand. This helps me optimise stock levels, preventing stockouts that frustrate customers and overstocking that ties up capital.
• AI-powered Negotiation Tools: Negotiating with suppliers is a key part of my job. While AI can’t replace human interaction, it can provide valuable insights. AI negotiation tools can analyse past contracts, market pricing trends, and even suggest negotiation strategies based on supplier behaviour patterns. This empowers me to approach negotiations with a stronger hand and secure better deals for the company.

 AdvAIce

Overall, AI is a powerful tool that’s transforming the world. By using AI responsibly and understanding its limitations, we can make better decisions, save time, and ultimately deliver more compelling results. However, there are certain downsides associated with its usage. One of the primary challenges is the need for robust data infrastructure and high-quality data inputs to ensure the reliability and effectiveness of AI algorithms. 

Moreover, while AI excels at processing vast amounts of data and identifying patterns, it may sometimes lack the nuanced understanding and contextual insights that human intuition provides. Therefore, striking the right balance between AI-driven automation and human oversight is crucial to maximise the benefits while mitigating potential drawbacks. Additionally, there are concerns related to data privacy and ethical implications, necessitating stringent measures to ensure compliance with regulations and ethical standards in AI deployment. Overall, while AI offers immense potential to revolutionise ecommerce operations, it requires careful consideration and strategic implementation to harness its full capabilities while addressing inherent challenges.

 AMIT SACHDEV

CEO and Founder, Stroll

MAI Perspective

All my business tasks and processes involve AI these days, and my use of it is only increasing over time. I also use AI for my personal life when it comes to making decisions and weighing out pros and cons.

How AI Use It

ChatGPT is the AI module that I use the most, but I’ve also begun to use AI more in everyday apps such as Spotify, which now has a DJ feature that takes into account my past listening history. Factoring that data also helps me discover new music as well as new podcasts.

 AdvAIce

I turned to these apps to better streamline processes and be more efficient with time. The downfalls are losing the ability to really dive into tasks and processes. This can result in a decline in both creativity and being less mindful with everyday tasks. Thus, be mindful when using AI. It is a tool, but at the end of the day, it’s not a replacement to fully execute your tasks.

AMIT JAY JAGANNATHAN

Group Transformation Manager

MAI Perspective

People, including myself, turn to AI applications for convenience and efficiency in their daily lives. However, there are downsides, such as concerns about privacy and the potential for over-reliance on technology. In my day-to-day, I rely on AI in two domains: work and leisure.

How AI Use It

 Within the work domain:

• Data Crunching: AI helps me analyse large sets of data, e.g. loan books and business performance. Spotting trends is crucial for decision-making.
• Customer Insights: AI helps me understand customer behaviour and preferences, vital for crafting effective strategies.
• I use a variety of AI apps and platforms, including Tableau and Power BI for data analysis, and Chat GPT to assist with general tasks like emails, quick excel formulas etc.

Within my personal life:

• AI-powered assistants like Siri and Google Assistant help with tasks like setting reminders, playing music, and answering questions.
• Health and Fitness: I use apps on my apple watch to track and monitor activity levels and calories, and provide personalised workout recommendations.
• Travelling a lot for work means using navigation GPS apps to provide real-time traffic updates and optimal route suggestions.
• The cool thing with AI is that you’ll also get movie, TV show, and music recommendations based on preferences from your viewing habits.

AdvAIce

Embrace AI as a tool to enhance efficiency and decision-making. Stay curious and continuously explore new AI applications to stay ahead in both professional and personal endeavours.

Other Community AdvAIce

• Planning themed birthday parties is much easier after asking ChatGPT for themed, age-appropriate activities. It’ll even give relevant menu recommendations according to dietary, time and budgetary requirements!
• ChatGPT can provide recipe recommendations based on what ingredients you would like to highlight in a meal, while considering what is in your pantry. One community member needed to feature spinach more frequently in her toddler’s meals due to health reasons, and found age-appropriate suggestions via the platform. Another parent was encouraged to feature the vegetables that were discussed in school in a meal within a particular time frame, so that there would be a connection between school and home. Another parent of a newborn did not like traditional Thai food, so they found alternative ways to incorporate allegedly ‘milk-producing’ ingredients rather than in just Thai-style soups and stir-fries.
• Parents have shared that they have used ChatGPT to explain tangible and intangible concepts in developmentally appropriate ways to their kids. For example, the app provides ideas for explaining the concept of day-after-tomorrow or outer space, with little tips on what to avoid as well.  
• Bedtime stories, highlighting a principle or a lesson, can be created in an instant. Just be sure to put in your requirements for the length of story, age of audience, and any characters you want to feature!
• Some community members have been assigned tasks within the education system to utilise AI apps to help them create novel images. For example, one community member had to blend two separate brands (such as Hunger Games (2008) and Desperate Housewives (2004-2012) to create one cover image that spoke to both audiences. It took eight hours of instruction for the app to generate the desired image, but it got there in the end!