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Artificial intelligence is not only altering the course of the internet but also impacting the future of business. While some fear that it will have harmful economic repercussions by replacing people in jobs, AI can also serve as a game-changing tool to grow a business and increase its efficiency — help with everything from lead generation to content creation.
Here are a few popular new platforms and how you can apply them:
ChatGPT
Launched by OpenAI in November of 2022, this chatbot amassed more than a million users in just five days. A generative dialogue AI application, it can create new content, and its potential uses are virtually endless — from writing full essays to blog posts, song lyrics to cover letters and resumes. It can even draft legal contracts using local statutes/regulations pulled from public sources. For coding purposes, it can write and explain code, find errors in existing code and build websites. A master chatbot characterized by stunning accuracy, its greatest asset is an ability to mirror organic, lifelike conversations.
Because of such far-reaching capabilities, ChatGPT can be used in virtually any industry and for businesses of any size. Here are just a few potential uses:
• Content Creation: In an online marketplace in which content is king, ChatGPT (currently free to use for the public) can write blog posts or social media posts using specific parameters that fit your needs, and also help generate new content concepts. You can ask it to formulate a list of ideas for podcasts or videos, then prepare an entire script pursuing these ideas. If you don’t like the immediate results, ask it to rewrite in a specific tone and/or either simplify or make copy more detailed and complex. It can also edit pre-written content to ensure that results are error-free and adhere to set tones and guidelines.
• Customer Service: ChatGPT can serve as a solution to the often notably ineffectual results of live chat queries on websites — to handle customer inquiries and provide answers to common questions, leaving more time for a customer service team to deal with more complicated or demanding issues. Because ChatGPT can communicate with customers using more natural language, it improves their website experience — but it’s important to note that it applies a general language model and might lack specialized knowledge in specific areas.
Related: 3 Brands Crushing Instant Customer Service
• Hiring and Recruitment: Reading through cover letters and resumes can be an exhaustive part of growing a team, but ChatGPT users can simply copy and paste cover letters and ask it to search for key job criteria. It will comb through text to determine if candidates have relevant experience, possibly avoiding the need to hire outside recruiters, and certainly saving time.
Lensa AI
This is an AI image tool in the form of an editing app — one that’s been selling robustly in recent weeks. You may have seen it overtaking social media feeds with colorful art renditions of friends’ selfies. While it performs all the basic functions of a standard photo editing app (removing objects from photos, retouching blemishes, blurring backgrounds, adding filters, etc.), Lensa has differentiated itself by incorporating AI art generation. It’s free for basic use, but charges to transform selfies and portraits into AI imagery with a wider array of colors and styles, using compiled online art. These AI-generated avatars range from beautiful to bizarre, though preserve user facial features and other recognizable photo elements.
Lensa is a low-cost method of elevating visual content. When posting photos of products or services, its tools can edit at an often professional level, and additional tools can be used to create unique renditions of photos, helping small businesses generate original content in a matter of minutes. It’s akin to having an art team at your fingertips.
Related: What is Lensa AI? And Does it Pose Privacy and Ethical Concerns?
Jasper
An intuitive writing tool that can likewise be used for content creation — but without the cost or downtime of hiring outside help — Jasper, after a few words of instruction, can generate email marketing copy, blog posts, social media posts or product descriptions. You can request it to draft sales or marketing copy using certain tones (such as “informative” or “casual”), to which you can then add your voice and flair.
It’s even possible to drop examples of your writing into Jasper: On-board AI will then analyze your voice and style of writing and emulate it for future content generation. This can be especially helpful if customers know you personally, and/or if a genuine voice to keep the feel of a personal connection with consumers is important.
There are a few factors to consider, however:
• Learning Curve: Jasper has a steep one, but is powerful and effective once you’ve acquainted yourself with software navigation.
• Content Accuracy: When drafting content for specific industries, Jasper can miss technical jargon and industry-specific vocabulary. Because of this, the resulting content may require additional editing.
• Cost vs. Usage: Some users may need to weigh use frequency with expense, as Jasper AI plans start at $24/month and increase depending on use.
That said, this application can clear hurdles for business owners in many fields, and of just about any scale. It can level the playing field for startups and new businesses working to establish a steady consumer base by sidestepping the steep costs of traditional content generation. Early adopters can see particularly notable benefits, so now is the time to acquaint yourself.
Related: Why Email Marketing Is Better for Your Business Than Social Media