Embracing AI: Balancing Technology With Human Needs in Business

Excited or uncertain about AI? Join me as I reflect on the impact of artificial intelligence on our lives and businesses. Discover how we can embrace technology without losing our human touch. #Podcast #ArtificialIntelligence #Business"

Episode Transcript

(00:10):
Welcome to The Water Trough,where we can't make you drink,
but we will make you think.
My name is Ed Drost of The SmallBusiness Doctor, and I'm really
excited you chose to join mehere as we discuss topics that
are important for small businessfolks just like you.
If you're looking for ideas,inspiration, and possibility,
you've come to the right place.
Join us as we take steps to helpyou create the healthy business
that you've always wanted.

Microphone (Yeti Stereo (00:46):
Welcome back to The Water Trough.
This is Ed Draws, the SmallBusiness Doctor.
I've been thinking a lot aboutartificial intelligence, and I'm
admittedly not too sure where Ifall on the spectrum of
accepting, rejecting, or justbeing tremendously, clueless,

(01:06):
about this artificialintelligence.
It is a.
Profoundly important change inour life as many things before
it, the invention ofelectricity, the invention of so
many things, so many things inmy lifetime, having been born in

(01:26):
the 1950s, I've seen a lot ofthings happen, but nothing with
the magnitude of artificialintelligence, nothing that seems
to have the potential.
to change the world inabsolutely unimaginable ways.
So where does my ambivalencecome from?

Microphone (Yeti Stereo Micr (01:48):
In addition to being a business
person, I'm a universityprofessor.
And as a professor, it's my goalnot only to teach students about
topics that I'm familiar with,but to inspire them to think
critically so that they can usethat information that they've
learned to create new things.

(02:11):
In other words, not to accept the
status quo simply for the sakethat it exists, but to use that
as a springboard to new andgreater opportunity and
potential.
This to me is the criticalfunction of education.

(02:33):
When I think about this criticalthinking process, It then takes
me to the world of business.
Artificial intelligence canserve a large number of
purposes.
Obviously, the limits to it arenot even, are not even

(02:56):
fathomable at this point intime.
I'm sure they're going to faroutweigh anything that we can
imagine.
But at the bare minimum,artificial intelligence allows
us to Review to observe, toconsider such large amounts of

(03:19):
information in literallyseconds, far more information
than we could access, process,or understand in a lifetime.
It gives us access toinformation at such a rapid pace
and allows that information tobe.

Microphone (Yeti Stereo Mic (03:43):
and in the world of academia, our
goal is to inspire students tolearn, not only to learn, but to
inspire them to learn and what Imean by inspiring to learn is to
be able to take the informationprovided and utilize it, to
construct, to create, to producenew things.

(04:06):
It is that critical thinkingprocess that goes into that
creation that I think is the keyto education.
And so when I look at artificialintelligence,

Microphone (Yeti Stereo Micro (04:21):
I see it as a tool which allows us
to grasp and process far moreinformation than we could on our
own.
But on the other hand, I alsosee it as an opportunity.
To bypass that very importantcritical thinking process, in

(04:43):
the business world, it may notbe so black and white as I see
it in the world of academia.

Microphone (Yeti Stereo Micr (04:51):
In the business world,
realistically, profit is thefirst thing on our minds.
We want to make money and in themeantime, we obviously want to
be able to provide and to sellour services and our products.
The ability to readily grasp allof this information easily and

(05:15):
then further to be able toprocess it certainly supports
the idea of being able to bemore effective and more
efficient in the business world.
AI gives us opportunities inbusiness that we could not have
had before.
However,

Microphone (Yeti Stereo Micro (05:33):
I do believe it's important to
keep in mind that humaninteraction is necessary to make
a business work.

Microphone (Yeti Stereo Mi (05:41):
Some will say that in an effort to
boost profitability, we cansimply abandon our human element
and rely strictly upon vastamounts of information and
incredibly.
Expeditious informationprocessing and achieve the

(06:03):
bottom line, the profitabilityby taking away employees by
removing the drudgery, if youwill, of hiring and maintaining
employees, paying benefits andall the expenses associated with
that.
We can put our money into theowner's pockets.

(06:24):
Now, at a fundamental level, Iget this, I understand, but at
an emotional level, I reallycan't get my arms around it.
My intention for this podcast isnot to dissuade anyone from the
notion of artificialintelligence.
Number one, it's not going away.

(06:46):
Artificial intelligence is hereto stay.
It is going to grow.
It is going to consume much ofour time, attention, and, I
presume, much of our current wayof doing business.
Now, using that to positiveeffect is absolutely important,

(07:10):
but I do, for myself anyway,want to remember that the human
side of things plays a big role.
I can't imagine, for example, anartificial intelligence form
being able to do what I do as abusiness coach or to serve as a

(07:33):
university professor.
I might be wrong, and it maywell be that somewhere down the
road, perhaps not in mylifetime, AI will replace both
of those roles.
In my own estimation, I wouldn'twant to see that happen.
I sincerely hope it doesn'thappen.

(07:54):
And it's not a selfish thingwhere I'm not looking to be
replaced.
It is because I truly believethat we all depend upon, we all
need this sort of humaninteraction.
What I'm really doing here is,blabbing on, about my own
thoughts, my reservations, myconcerns, and my hopes for

(08:17):
artificial intelligence.
I think it behooves all of us inbusiness, all of us as
individuals, humans in thisworld, to take a good hard look
at AI.
We're not going to make it stop,we're not going to make it go
away, as I said, this particularepisode is more of a personal
reflection.

(08:38):
Hope is that it will inspire you to
think about your own perspectiveon AI, what it means to you and
what is, uh, what's coming downthe pike.
by the way, this episode wasgenerated completely by
artificial intelligence.
It's not me that you're hearing.
It's contrived.

(09:00):
Strictly by AI.
And the voice?
Well, that's a fabrication too.
Okay, I'm just kidding.
But the truth be told, it is notthat far fetched.
In fact, of course, it happenstoday.
What's real, and what's notreal, is anybody's guess.
Hey, this is Ed Draws with asmall business doctor.

(09:21):
Of that I'm sure.
And, I want to wish you ahealthy business, And I hope a
clear perspective on what'sgoing on.