There have been more than 70 years of Artificial Intelligence (AI) research, it's no longer a "hype", something that appeared overnight, but the popularization of AI after the launch of ChatGPT took everyone by surprise.

AI has the potential to increase productivity, efficiency, quality, innovation and the competitiveness of businesses in various sectors and functions. However, many companies still face challenges in adopting and harnessing the benefits of AI.

Some barriers are a lack of knowledge, infrastructure, data, talent, culture and strategy. In addition, AI can generate high costs, ethical, legal and social risks, and resistance to change.

Faced with this scenario, how can you implement AI in your business quickly and cost-effectively? 

In this article, we will present some practices, tools and strategies that can help you start, test and scale the use of AI in your company, generating value and competitive advantage.

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Quick practices for implementing AI

One of the simplest and most effective ways to start using AI in your business is to take advantage of the tools already available on the market, which offer ready-made and customizable solutions for various needs.

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Generative AI tools

• ChatGPT: you're probably already using it, but I couldn't leave it out. It's a text generation tool based on artificial intelligence that allows you to create a variety of content, such as articles, summaries, slogans, emails and more. You can use ChatGPT to create original, creative and relevant texts for your target audience, without having to write from scratch. The paid version generates images, reads and talks to PDFs and analyzes data using Python.

• Tactiq: is a Chrome extension that transcribes audio to text in real time. Available for Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Webex.

• Gamma: You can type in a topic and watch Gamma create a complete presentation from scratch with images or insert text in the Text Transform option (inside the Create New AI button) and create a presentation from your reports and documents. You can also import content from Word or Google Docs.

• Fliki.ai: A quick and easy tool for creating videos and audio from text. It offers features such as automatically summarizing text, finding matching images and creating videos with narration that sounds like a real person. You can also add customized subtitles with different styles.

• Adobe Podcast: Enhances up to 1 hour of audio per upload, making audio sound like it was recorded in a professional studio.

• Google Bard: Similar to ChatGPT, it uses another language model (Gemini) which has very good results. Its great advantage is that it is integrated in real time with Internet results and generates images even in the free version.

• Perplexity AI: A search tool that provides precise answers to complex questions according to the search results. Using LLMs and search engines, it is able to answer a wide variety of questions in natural language by telling you which sources were consulted. It's up to you to check the sources used and make sure they are reliable. Very useful for looking up references and validating ChatGPT answers.

Data analysis platforms

Another way to prepare for implementing AI in your business is to use data analysis platforms, which allow you to visualize and interpret the data generated by your company, your customers, your competitors and your market.

If you want to use predictive analytics in the future, you need to start by understanding and organizing your data first.

These platforms can provide valuable insights for making evidence-based decisions, identifying trends, opportunities and challenges, improving processes, products and services, etc.

Some of the most popular data analysis platforms are Looker (Google), Power BI (Microsoft), Tableau, Qlik, etc. These platforms can be integrated with your data sources, such as spreadsheets, databases, social networks, etc., and allow you to create customized reports, dashboards, graphs and indicators for your business.

Changing the Mindset to Adopt AI

Artificial intelligence requires new skills and abilities, both technical and behavioral, to deal with the complexity and uncertainty of the digital environment.

That's why organizations that want to differentiate themselves and remain competitive in the market need to invest in training and continuing education for their teams, not only to develop the skills needed to use AI, but also to stimulate imaginative creativity and critical thinking.

In this regard, there are two fundamental aspects that need to be considered: a culture of innovation and experimentation, and training and continuing education.

Culture of Innovation and Experimentation

Artificial intelligence is a constantly evolving field that brings new possibilities and challenges every day. That's why organizations that want to benefit from AI need to be willing to innovate and experiment with new solutions, without fear of making mistakes or failing.

A culture of innovation and experimentation is one that encourages creativity, collaboration, diversity, learning and adaptation. These values can help teams explore different scenarios, test hypotheses, evaluate results and implement improvements.

Some practices that can help create a culture of innovation and experimentation are:

• Define a clear and shared vision of the organization's purpose and objectives, as well as the expected benefits of AI.
• Establishing open and transparent communication between all hierarchical levels, sectors and areas of activity, promoting dialog, feedback and alignment.
• Create spaces and moments for the generation and exchange of ideas, such as workshops, hackathons, brainstormings, etc., involving different profiles and perspectives.
• Encourage rapid and iterative experimentation, using agile methodologies, prototyping, A/B testing, etc., and validating solutions with end users.
• Celebrate achievements, but also recognize and learn from mistakes, without blaming or punishing.

Training and Continuing Education

Another major barrier to the adoption of AI is the lack of knowledge and skills among teams. That's why it's essential to invest in training and continuing education, both for the IT professionals who will develop and manage the AI solutions, and for the other employees who will use them in their day-to-day work.

The market offers various resources for training teams in AI, from free or paid online courses to certification and postgraduate programs. It's important to find something that is practical, actionable and adapted to the company's market.

In addition to training teams in technical terms, it is also important to promote a culture of continuous learning, which encourages employees to constantly update themselves on the latest news and trends in the field of AI, as well as to share their experiences and challenges with their colleagues. Some ways of doing this are:

• Create study groups or book clubs on AI, which meet periodically to discuss articles, books, podcasts, videos, etc. related to the topic.
• Organize lectures, workshops or internal or external hackathons on AI
• Encourage participation in events, courses, webinars or podcasts on AI by offering incentives, recognition or reimbursement.
• Create a repository of AI resources, tools and best practices that can be consulted and updated by the teams.
• Encourage feedback and collaboration between teams using or developing AI solutions, to exchange ideas, suggestions and solutions.

With these actions, companies can train their teams to harness the full potential of AI, increasing their productivity, efficiency and competitiveness in the market.

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