How Workers Are Using Generative AI Tools to Increase Productivity
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Here's your Money Briefing for Wednesday, June 7th. I'm J.R. Whelan for The Wall Street Journal. New tools like ChatGPT, MidJourney, and Tome are disrupting the workplace. Many workers are already using generative AI tools.
I spoke to one who was using it to check his work before going to meetings with clients. He would have his team, of course, prepare their remarks, and then he would also just check with ChatGPT to see what would be recommended. You know, say, I have a client meeting with so-and-so, and we want a brief on X, Y, Z. What should we say? And then he would compare the results.
We'll talk to Wall Street Journal reporter Teping Chen about the benefits and risks of using AI in the workplace after the break.
How are freelancers and small-business owners using generative AI to boost output and income?
More workers are using generative artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT. Wall Street Journal reporter Teping Chen joins us to discuss how it's helping professionals save time and boost their income. So Teping, artificial intelligence seems like it's something new. But what are some examples where it's been in use for quite some time?
There's lots of ways that artificial intelligence has been used to help with processes like customer service. So for example, if you're calling, it's quite possible that the agent on the other end of the line has been working with AI-powered software that can help hear what's going on in a conversation, transcribe it, have that transcription be processed, and then offer feedback or suggestions to the agent in terms of what they should be saying to you. And also for regular consumers, it's something that they would encounter on a perhaps daily basis with tools like Siri or Alexa.
So how do they work? And are they easy to use?
I spoke with folk who had really no coding background, really no technical background whatsoever. And yes, were absolutely able to start using those tools quite readily in their own work lives. So with one of the designers that we spoke with who was trying to generate an image, it was typing in fun quirky car, fun quirky car retro, like, you know, and adding on more and more descriptors until he landed on the image that he wanted. And then taking it into another program, more traditional program like Photoshop or what have you, and working on it from there. But the actual input process he and others have found, I mean, of course, it depends on the tool. Some of them you do need more of a technical background, but certainly for things like ChatGPT and MidJourney as well.
really quite accessible.
So you really don't have to be a computer expert to use these tools.
Yeah, not all the folks we spoke to did have a coding background or those skills. One lawyer that I was talking to, absolutely no such technical background, but she was using ChatGPT quite fluently to try and generate articles for a website that she was building. In other cases, we also spoke with a marketer who likewise didn't have a technical background, but was using ChatGPT to generate content for his marketing business. So yeah, I think some learning curve involved, of course, like with anything, but not that substantial.
Now, in your story, you spoke to people who are freelancers and work in small businesses. How can artificial intelligence be used by people outside those fields, somebody maybe in a full-time job or who's not in a small business?
Yeah, well, the tools are applicable to really any kind of work context, any sort of white collar work context. It would just be a question, obviously, of what your company's regulations are. But for workers, there's a lot of different ways that they can be drawn on. I spoke to one who was using it to... check kind of his work before going to meetings with clients. He would have his team, of course, prepare their remarks. And then he would also just check with ChatGPT to see what would be recommended. You know, say, I have a client meeting with so-and-so and we want to brief on X, Y, Z. What should we say? And then he would compare the results and make sure that his team is covering its bases.
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