If you still think AI is a passing trend, think again. In December 2022, shortly after ChatGPT’s release, Google issued a “code red” and made their own AI products a top priority. They have since released several AI tools, like Gemini, and have continued to iterate. By Q3 2024, Google’s revenue jumped 35%, hitting $9.2 billion - a clear signal that AI isn’t just shaping the future; it’s already reshaping their bottom line. And if your business isn’t paying attention, you’re at risk of being left out.
Getting started is the hardest part
From the time ChatGPT was released in November 2022 to now, I have grown from a curious AI user to a frequent user. I have experienced how LLMs (Large Language Models) can supercharge research, spark better ideas, and lead to sharper, faster business decisions. So why do so many people still seem to be afraid of AI?
The answer may be simple: We fear what we don’t understand. Most of us do not understand how AI works, much less how it can work for us. Without guidance on how to approach it, people instead choose to avoid it—but if you are avoiding AI, you might be losing time, opportunities, and money.
The good news? You don’t have to become an expert overnight. Getting started is the hardest part—but once you take that first step, the path forward gets a lot clearer.
Discover how AI can deliver real value for your business
- Start with play—Yes, really. My AI journey began the way many do: with curiosity and a little bit of fun. I asked ChatGPT to write poems for my daughters, answer random questions, and entertain silly prompts. It was low-stakes and surprisingly delightful—but more importantly, it got me comfortable. The more you interact with AI, the less intimidating it becomes. Don’t overthink it—just start playing. Because while you’re waiting for the “perfect” use case, AI is evolving fast. The longer you wait, the steeper the learning curve becomes.
- Turn curiosity into capability. Once I got comfortable, I began to explore how LLMs could actually support my business. Strategic planning was a natural place to start. In the past, our leadership team relied on individual opinions and fragmented insights to identify market trends. Hiring a research firm wasn’t realistic because it was too expensive (and too slow). With AI, we can gather and synthesize real-time market data across industries, regions, and customer segments, quickly and affordably. It’s like having a research analyst on call 24/7. What used to take weeks now takes minutes, and we’re making stronger, more informed decisions because of it.
AI hasn’t replaced our strategic thinking, but enhanced it. By removing the barriers of cost, time, and limited perspective, it’s added significant value to our process. Think about the areas in your business where you feel bottlenecked or underinformed. So, how can AI add value for you? Start thinking about the areas of your business where you feel restricted by time, money, and limited knowledge. How could AI break down those walls and accelerate your progress?
- Grow your confidence as you apply AI to more scenarios. As you begin to see results, your confidence will grow, and so will your ambition. That’s when things get exciting. Once AI becomes part of your workflow, it’s only natural to start asking: What else could it do? Whether it’s streamlining operations, improving customer experiences, or generating new ideas, AI can be a powerful catalyst.
Just remember: AI is a tool, not a decision-maker. It’s your responsibility to validate what it gives you, apply critical thinking, and use it to support smart, ethical, human-centered decisions.
For example, think about how you brainstorm with your team. All of us have done brainstorming the old way, with sticky notes and white boards. Team members write down their ideas; the group discusses; ideas are judged and organized; action steps are set. There is nothing wrong with this approach, but with some major minor adjustments, you could get so much more from brainstorming.
Before your team writes down their own thoughts, ask ChatGPT to generate ideas on the topic. This kills blank page syndrome and catalyzes discussion. It is so much easier to build off (or even oppose) something that already exists than to start with nothing. After the team adds to the list, use ChatGPT to group the ideas into related sets. Then, ask it to test the ideas against industry knowledge and competitor data. Your cloud of sticky notes will be replaced instantaneously by categorized groups of rich ideas, and you will have the data to support them (or not). AI can do for you in seconds what could otherwise take an hour or longer.
If you invite AI to your brainstorming sessions, you can supercharge your team’s ideas and discussions. There is less grunt work, less writer’s block, and less fatigue, so everyone is better prepared to think sharply and make quality decisions. This is one impactful use case that I have personally explored. I am excited to find many more ways I can use AI to add energy and inspiration to my team’s work. Maybe some ideas are already coming to mind for you. Ready or not, the future is here - and it’s friendly.
If you are still avoiding AI, you may be putting your business at an unnecessary disadvantage. It is time to jump in, splash around, and realize that the water is pretty nice!
Start with something simple. Let your team explore, experiment, and even have a little fun. From there, you’ll start to see how AI can knock down the walls of time constraints, budget limitations, and narrow perspectives. It’s not about replacing people—it’s about empowering them.