Entrepreneurs worldwide are experiencing the influence of artificial intelligence (AI) in their industries. There are two distinct attitudes among entrepreneurs towards AI; some are enthusiastic and inspired to explore the possibilities it presents, while others are anxious and worried about staying relevant or disregarding it altogether. When asked about their views on AI, entrepreneurs shared their expectations and apprehensions.
These are the Pros and Cons of AI for Business:
Pros
- Enhancing creativity
- Improving efficiency
- Providing a better service
Cons
- Dehumanising and impersonal
- Plagiarism and misinformation
- Privacy and security concerns
Pro: Enhancing creativity
AI tools are readily available for various creative pursuits, making it easier than ever to establish a professional-looking business. These tools can help with branding, website building, and content creation in various formats. According to Cameron Adams, co-founder and chief product officer of Canva, AI will fuel a significant explosion in creativity and efficiency for businesses, democratizing the creative process and enabling people to access more creativity than before.
AI is not meant to take over creative jobs but rather helps to get ideas off the ground, resulting in better drafts that raise the baseline for creative work. Chris Caffrey, founder of Legacy Club, describes AI as “steroids for content” that will appeal to new audiences and enhance marketing and digital assets. Neo Nortey from Nortey Razzi uses AI in photography, where it has changed how images are created and manipulated, allowing for new creative possibilities and workflow efficiency. AI means artists can focus more on the creative aspects of their work, without compromising quality or incurring additional costs, and pass these results onto their clients.
Pro: Improving efficiency
Entrepreneurs are using AI to streamline processes, reduce inefficiencies, and increase efficiency. AI is being integrated into various aspects of businesses to extract valuable insights from data, predict trends, and make more informed decisions. By automating routine tasks, talented team members can focus on more strategic and creative aspects of operations. For instance, AI is being used to create higher quality content, reduce workload, and generate data that is easier for technology partners, consumers, and employees to consume. With the latest tools now available, some time-consuming stages of product roadmaps can be skipped.
Pro: Providing a better service
The use of AI is helping entrepreneurs to provide better services to their clients by reducing human errors, streamlining processes and creating more personalized experiences. By teaching machines to do tasks previously done by humans, businesses can scale up and provide more value to customers. Health and fitness entrepreneurs are benefiting from AI by discovering new health-promoting molecules and allowing AI-assisted coaches to provide even better recommendations than humans, resulting in better results and deeper insights into clients’ lives. AI is unlocking opportunities for next-level customer communications and user engagement, which can lead to increased customer loyalty and business growth.
Can AI have negative consequences that need to be considered?
Con: Dehumanising and impersonal
Some entrepreneurs are skeptical about the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in their businesses. They worry that too much automation could lead to job losses, and that short-term gains from AI may not be worth the long-term consequences. Some entrepreneurs, like Anna Hamill from And Hope Designs, fear that relying on AI could make their businesses feel robotic and emotionless, which could turn customers off. Charlie Day from Charlie Day Sales worries that AI might replace the personal touch that’s so important in sales. He believes that building relationships with customers is key to making sales, and that chatbots and automatic replies can’t replace human connection. Ultimately, businesses need to consider whether their customers want a human touch or the efficiency of AI.
Con: Plagiarism and misinformation
Chat GPT and other content creation tools can quickly generate articles and images with the right prompt, but the quality of the content can vary between humans and robots. While humans need rest, robots can keep going. However, entrepreneurs have concerns about AI-generated content, such as plagiarism and Google penalties. For medical terms or investment decisions, inaccurate content could have significant consequences. Some experts are worried about the impact of AI on publishers, fair usage of data sets, and legislation around content creation. The current legal framework is insufficient, and creators are unsure about the future of their content.
Con: Privacy and security concerns
Bilawal Gul from PressPitch.io is concerned about the potential harm that cyberattacks can cause to businesses and individuals, especially when AI is involved. Such attacks are difficult to detect and defend as they can evolve and adapt to defenses used against them. He questions the possibility of an AI-driven virus becoming friends with our AI-driven defense system, leading to an inevitable mess where we cannot trust which AI is good or bad. The future of AI in our personal and business lives could lead to benefits such as enhanced creativity and efficiency but also dehumanization, misinformation, and significant risks. It is crucial to stay curious, evaluate every update, and pivot and adapt without ignoring the potential dangers.