AI is any software that is trained on massive amounts of data to recognize patterns and make predictions based on those patterns. You’ve actually been using AI for years.

For example, when you use a spelling or grammar checker, that’s AI recognizing patterns in language to help you polish your work. When Gmail suggests the next word to type in your email or your phone suggests the next word to use in a text message, that’s AI predicting what you’re likely to type based on patterns picked up from billions of emails and texts. When an LLM answers a question, that’s AI matching your question to patterns seen in its training data (Q&A forums, help tickets, customer support chat logs, etc.) to generate a response that fits your request.

This is powerful, and incredibly useful, but AI doesn’t necessarily “think” in the same way you do. Remember, it’s an exceptional pattern matcher. During training, AI is told what makes a “good” response, and what makes a “bad” response. This means when an AI is asked to generate something, it can create responses that are broadly helpful, but AI can’t understand your business without extensive customization and context. Rather than expecting it to run your marketing for you or handle customer complaints, it is better to think of it as a high speed drafting and summary tool. You can have it help you draft a marketing email or suggest responses, but a human still needs to review, edit, and apply judgment to the output.

AI responses are designed to be confident, but because they rely on probability, they can wrong. If you’re using AI to help with work you understand deeply, you’ll catch the times it makes errors. If you’re using it for work outside your expertise, you might not realize when it makes a mistake, so be skeptical and double check sources if they are provided.

And it’s important to remember, when you paste information into an AI chatbot to help draft a response or summarize a document, you’re uploading that information to someone else’s servers. Depending on their terms, they might use that data to train future models, and they might keep that data long after you “delete” it. Make sure whoever you choose will adequately protect that data during processing.

Use AI tools with the same skepticism you’d apply to any new technology. Be mindful of the data you’re sharing and where it’s going. Verify AI output instead of assuming it’s correct. Read the terms of service for AI tools you’re using. And, most importantly, stay informed!