Here Are Two Ways AI Can Be Used To Solve Business and Education Problems
A Toronto meetup’s notes
What’s the hottest thing in tech today? AI.
I’ve been in Toronto for the last two months, and recently attended my second AI meetup event. The event was sizable, boasting around 240 attendees.
I knew this was going to be a unique experience because there were free pizzas and drinks — perfect ingredients to foster meaningful connections.
The event featured three speakers: Joshua, Prashanth and Flora Wan.
Flora stood out to me with her insightful discussion on the future of work and education in the age of AI.
She focused on two major themes: innovation and transformation.
“AI will affect almost every aspect of your life,” she asserted. Instead of fearing AI, she advocated for embracing it in our daily routines
Here’s what I think AI will do to business and education.
Education tailored to your needs
Reflecting on my high school years, I remember dreading math and physics. There was a pervasive myth that if you weren’t born with a natural talent in these subjects, mastering them was impossible.
This fear held many students, including myself.
From formal institutions to informal resources like YouTube, we have plenty of learning platforms today.
Unfortunately, the vast amount of information can make it hard to find what we’re looking for.
What if we could create a tailored education for each student?
Imagine a world where education personalized to your unique learning style.
What if we had an AI-powered app that understands how you learn? An app that, with each interaction, gathers insights into your learning strategies and preferences.
Over time, it would become finely tuned to your needs, delivering the most relevant resources almost instantly.
It could simplify complex concepts into easy-to-understand explanations, making learning not just efficient but also enjoyable.
Using AI to solve everyday business problems
According to all the research I’ve reviewed, AI is poised to revolutionize all facets of work — except maybe for manual labor.
For those in trades like barbering or construction, you’ve got some time before AI becomes part of your daily toolkit.
My friend and mentor, Opher, once said AI is as powerful as a genie, yet we often limit its use to drafting mundane emails. What a waste.
Why aren’t we leveraging it to tackle real business challenges?
Consider this: companies like OpenAI have invested billions in developing these models. All that investment, just to help you craft an excuse for being late to dinner? No way.
Imagine leveraging the power of GPT-4 or similar models to address genuine business problems.
Think of a car dealership. Having spent many years in this space, I can tell you that they have many problems they wish they could fix.
Here are a few examples
Problem: Long wait times and inefficient service.
AI Solution: Train a chatbot using dealership data to handle initial customer inquiries, schedule appointments, and provide basic information around the clock. This reduces wait times and boosts customer satisfaction.
Another common problem: customers struggle to find the right vehicle.
AI Solution: Use all the data at your disposal to develop an AI recommendation system. This system can analyze customer preferences, budgets, and lifestyles to suggest the most suitable vehicles.
There’s no doubt that the Service Department is one of the most painful points in the business
Problem: Inefficient scheduling and resource allocation
AI Solution: Use AI to optimize service department scheduling, considering factors like technician availability, parts inventory, and expected job duration to maximize efficiency and reduce customer wait times.
And those are just few examples I was thinking about while I was in the event.
Artificial intelligence for critical thinking
AI can revolutionize your approach to critical thinking, problem-solving, and discovering creative solutions. It’s not magic — it’s speed and precision.
magine achieving in three hours what traditionally takes three months. AI gathers insights from the smartest minds around the globe, giving you access to diverse perspectives, which enables it to propose unique, non-obvious solutions at a fraction of the cost.
As the meetup was drawing to a close, I found myself with numerous burning questions for the speakers.
I quickly approached Flora and inquired about how businesses can leverage AI to address everyday challenges.
She explained that, given AI is still a relatively new field, it requires extensive experimentation with various models to discover effective solutions.
Second, she explained that companies are pouring billions into language models, and due to the competitive landscape, you can get them free or for a minimal fee.
It’s one of those moments where something so obvious goes unnoticed until someone points it out — like a lightbulb switching on. That was my eureka moment.
Conclusions
I can’t emphasize enough how transformative AI can be in business and education.
For businesses, AI provides tools to optimize processes, improve efficiency, and uncover innovative solutions to complex problems.
By leveraging AI-driven analytics, companies can gain deep insights into customer behavior, streamline operations, and even predict future trends.
In education, AI can offer personalized learning experiences, identify gaps in knowledge, and provide instant feedback, enabling a more tailored and effective educational journey for students.
Not using AI on a regular basis means you’re losing out to those who do
