Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Jeff Perera: Ultimately, it's a tool and it's only as good as the user. If we look at it as a tool, it's really beneficial for the world ahead of us. If we look at it as something scary, then that's how we'll perceive it.
[00:00:11] Romaine Waite: I feel like I should be using it more, but one of the quick ways is just to synthesize information to understand maybe concepts fairly quickly.
[00:00:20] Dion Hargrove: Whenever I need data points or help with marketing, I will ask AI a question and then I would tell it provide sources for each of your claims so I can fact check it. So I force it to justify whatever information is given me.
[00:00:34] Richard Gearhart: Does AI enhance creativity or does it dampen it?
[00:00:38] Elizabeth Gearhart: Fear people have, especially in marketing, is that everything's going to start to sound the same. And it does. It does all sound the same.
[00:00:46] Speaker F: This is Real AI Use Cases Business Owners Roundtable with hosts Elizabeth Gearhart, podcast consultant, marketing expert and PhD researcher using AI every day, and Richard Gearhart, entrepreneur, seasoned business owner and intellectual property attorney specializing in innovation.
Here's how real companies are using AI right now.
[00:01:06] Elizabeth Gearhart: So now it is time for Real AI Use Cases Business Owners Roundtable. I'm going to ask each of our guests one way they're using AI and they each get one quick answer. And then we're going to go around and talk about AI and other ways that we may be using it and why we love it and why we hate it and maybe why we don't use it. I am going to start with you, Romaine Waite. What is one way that you're using AI right now?
[00:01:29] Richard Gearhart: How?
[00:01:30] Romaine Waite: I'm, I'm using it. I don't know if I use it enough right now. I feel like I should be using it more. But I think one of the quick ways is just to kind of synthesize information to like, understand maybe concepts fairly quickly and grasp if it's something I want to pursue or not.
[00:01:47] Elizabeth Gearhart: That's a great way to use it. Okay, now we'll go to Jeff Pereira with jeffsbagelrun.com Jeff, what's one way you're using AI in your business right now?
[00:01:58] Jeff Perera: So we use AI in our daily baking process. So we built a full tech stack to manage our kitchen display systems and our pos. We use an old version of AI, something called machine learning. It's been around for years, but it does create a beautiful process that algorithmically allows us to predict bakes, to see the need for products before they arise. So we can be just in time with our bagels so they come out of the oven hot right when the customers are there.
[00:02:28] Elizabeth Gearhart: That's really cool. Nobody's said that one before.
[00:02:30] Richard Gearhart: Okay, well, I think he's the first
bagel maker we've had.
[00:02:34] Elizabeth Gearhart: Yeah, look at his website's torture. Yeah, I love the flavor.
[00:02:39] Richard Gearhart: It's heavenly torture. Probably not approved by the Oxford Survey on Growth. Although, I don't know, I guess bagels are healthy food, right?
[00:02:47] Elizabeth Gearhart: Yeah, they've been around.
[00:02:48] Jeff Perera: It's a few hundred calories. Base bagels got 13 grams of protein, only five ingredients, no preservatives.
I think we're in a pretty good spot.
[00:02:56] Elizabeth Gearhart: Yeah.
All right, so Dion Hargrove with smartinvestorsapp.com I imagine, like your whole life is AI practically if you're doing an app, right?
[00:03:07] Dion Hargrove: No. So I try not to be overly reliant on AI, but I do use it as a research assistant. Whenever I need data points or help with marketing, I will ask AI a question and then I would tell it, provide sources for each of your claims so I can fact check it. Because as we all know, AI is not 100% reliable. So I force it to justify whatever information is given me.
[00:03:31] Elizabeth Gearhart: That's a good idea. I do that. I check different sources that. But you really have to. I agree. So, Richard Gerhardt Law. That's one way you're using AI right now.
[00:03:40] Richard Gearhart: I am going to take a little bit of a different tack this week and I'm going to say, does AI enhance creativity or does it dampen it?
Because I'll tell you, when I'm in the middle of trying to research something or figure out a problem and I'm using AI, my brain's going, I'm asking all these questions, I'm following up on all the answers. I feel like I'm learning a lot and I'm getting closer to a creative solution.
On the other hand, if you use AI, for example, to write your copy for your radio show, I it's not as vibrant, I think, as if you do it yourself. So on the one hand, it's a high is enhancing.
On the other hand, it can be dampening and maybe even do both at the same time. I don't know. But I'm really trying. I've just really been thinking about that lately.
[00:04:36] Elizabeth Gearhart: So that's a good thought. Yeah, humans definitely have to intersperse. So for me, Elizabeth Gearhart with Gear Media Studios, I'm thinking of doing a little bit of a pivot with my business because I started the studio as a podcasting studio and helping people start podcasts but it's really hard to get people to do because it's so much commitment and they really don't know what's going to come out the end of it. And it's a lot of work and they don't know how to do it, most people. So I'm, I've always researched constantly with AI, like, what do small businesses need to do right now for marketing? And the answer changes all the time. But video has risen to the top now, so I'm repurposing and switching more towards video content creation instead of podcast creation. So I've been using AI to really analyze that and see what is a good path for me to take. And like, really, with all the things I do, how can I make some money?
[00:05:35] Richard Gearhart: That was the big question in media.
Yeah, it's fun, it's cool, but, you know, does it pay the bills? Right. That's always the challenging part.
[00:05:46] Jeff Perera: I think Romain said something great earlier where he talked about attention. And I think that, you know, the world's attention is, you know, in like a 5 inch screen in their hand. So if it's video and it could be a podcast that turns into video, right? Like you, you know, you're, if you're clipping it and you're catching sound bites of an interview, it could be a great way to grab the attention of someone. And so I think that's just where we live. And AI does facilitate, I think a lot of that work that maybe someone didn't previously have a skill set for. And it can help them to edit a video or it can help them to create captions on, like, how do you, like, there's just some people who don't have the skillset. And so I think if they tap into AI and they're willing to ask those questions and learn, ultimately it's a tool and it's only as good as the user. And so I'm not a carpenter. If you put a saw in my hand, I'm not going to build you something. So Dion, as an engineer and a software developer, using AI to help him along the way, probably 10x's his skill set. And so I think, or maybe not his skill set, his productivity, it's probably a better way to say that. And so I think there's, if we look at it as a tool, it's really beneficial for the world ahead of us. If we look at it as something scary, then that's how we'll perceive it.
[00:07:01] Dion Hargrove: And I want to piggyback off what Richard had asked about Does AI enhance or does it dampens creativity? And with anything, it comes down to moderation.
AI does not necessarily create anything new. It uses data that already exists, that it's been trained on.
So if you use it in a small amount to help you with, say, writing your prompts and your scripts, using it properly, it can enhance it. But if you just have it say, hey, write this script for me, it's not going to be as good as if you would have done it, so you're just going to have to use it sparingly.
[00:07:36] Elizabeth Gearhart: It's a very linear thinker too. So I was asking it for. I'm going to do a new podcast, I think maybe with somebody. And I was asking it for podcast names, like, what would be a really good name for this podcast? I said a really good name, like catchy. And it's giving me these names and I'm like, is this name taken? And it's like, well, yeah, this name is taken.
[00:08:01] Richard Gearhart: Not a good look for the wife of a law firm owner that specializes in intellectual property. Right?
[00:08:07] Elizabeth Gearhart: Yeah, it was just so funny. It's just a very linear thinker. I can't think of it like we as humans would like it would be. Well, it's a good name because it's not taken yet, but I use it for almost everything these days, I think,
[00:08:21] Richard Gearhart: you know, to, to Deon's point, you can't become dependent on it.
[00:08:25] Elizabeth Gearhart: No, you can't.
[00:08:26] Richard Gearhart: Right. I mean, we have interns that work with us and you ask them to do research and everything they do is on ChatGPT.
They don't actually like necessarily read the cases. You don't read what the court said. They read summaries. And so you lose something if you take that shortcut. You get through it quicker, but then you don't develop the depth that you probably should develop if you're going to be a good attorney. It's a double edged sword. The thing is that people in our generation have already done all that work. So we can look at an AI output and say that, you know, that's a hallucination. But if you haven't done the background work, how do you know?
[00:09:09] Elizabeth Gearhart: Yeah, I use it to get started. But Richard and I were talking this morning about with our YouTube videos, we can come up with better titles than AI can.
[00:09:19] Richard Gearhart: Or at least we think we can.
Yeah, but it's kind of true. Sometimes it comes up with better titles. No. So it's kind of good to check. But other times they.
[00:09:32] Elizabeth Gearhart: But the, the fear people have, especially in marketing I do the marketing is that everything's going to start to sound the same. And it does. You know what?
It does all sound the same. And I'm giving a presentation. I did a slide on AI Slop.
And I don't know, have you guys all heard the term AI Slop?
[00:09:48] Jeff Perera: Yeah.
[00:09:49] Elizabeth Gearhart: I asked it to define AI Slop. And part one of them, I asked, I work with Gemini and Claude and Chat and Gemini did this, like, horrific graphic that was, like, had so much going on in it, like your brain could not process it.
And then another one said, though, that there's actual phrases like deep dive and let's delve into this. And then it uses other phrases to try to sound smart.
So if you see stuff that's written like that, your brain subconsciously kind of knows that it's AI and so you. I think you can use it to start, but you can't use it to finish.
[00:10:30] Richard Gearhart: Just if I'm in a bad mood, I'll ask ChatGPT, what do you think of me? And it'll come back and say, oh, wow, you're just like the most amazing person ever.
I'm so glad you asked, Richard.
[00:10:44] Elizabeth Gearhart: I will say I had a situation where I was kind of annoyed with somebody. I'm like, they did this. And it came back and said, well, you're absolutely right.
[00:10:52] Richard Gearhart: So not treat you well.
[00:10:55] Elizabeth Gearhart: So anyway, well, thank you for those enlightened uses. You know, it's here to stay. As you said, it's a tool, and it's a tool that you should probably learn how to use.
[00:11:06] AI: You have been listening to Real AI Use Business Owners Roundtable. We hope you found this valuable. Join us again for more stories. Because the future of business is driven by AI. This podcast was recorded at the iHeart Studios in Manhattan as part of the Passage to Profit radio show.
