Pivot’s Approach to AI (Part 1)

It’s hard to know where to begin or how to operate in a world with AI. The technology is moving at the speed of light — our people and resources can scarcely keep up.

The technology has exploded in the last year. Our team reeled for a bit, but I have spent the last several months exploring its applications, educating myself on its impacts as much as possible, and trying to figure out how and where it fits into our lives. And where it shouldn’t fit into our lives.

Considerations

On the side of ethics, this technology consumes a horrifying amount of space and resources, especially electricity and water [1, 2]. These drains are causing measurable suffering in our own communities [3, 4]. It can be detrimental to social development, offering a synthetic sense of companionship to replace real connection, as well as biased or dangerously terrible advice [5]. It has also empowered people with new ways of inflicting harm, especially against children and vulnerable folks [6].

On the side of economics, we love our small businesses and need them, and they deserve quality tools for success. In our current environment, if businesses are not using AI, they’re being left behind [7]. It’s all but impossible to stay competitive and relevant when you’re not playing with the same equipment as the rest of the players. So in many cases, these tools are instrumental in the continued success of our small business economies.

And when we think about the people using these tools… AI can absolutely be a key to freedom. Outsourcing menial tasks and lightening the workload frees up time to be spent on more productive or creative tasks. It can remove major hurdles for businesses, professionals, and everyday citizens who are trying to grow in their lives and careers.

Our Experiences

Personally, as a single mother who has juggled WAY too much for far too long, it is life-changing to have a tool that can help me construct meal plans and grocery lists in a cinch, or critically review my time management and recommend improvements. I have even used it to critically assess my finances and propose steps or tools for better management. Don’t get me wrong — I’m still a die-hard Googler of things — but Chat or an AI overview can compile resources and ideas faster than any web search.

As a business owner, I was able to quantum leap YEARS of operational development when I discovered how to generate SOPs in 5 minutes, outline months of content, filter ideas, and brainstorm products, branding, and service packages. Every time the rug was pulled beneath me and I thought, “this is it for my business and everything I’ve built,” I took a beat and picked the “brain” of the omniscient bot behind the screen. Each time, it helped me hone in on the essentials, adjust course, and recover FAST.

I see people improving their lives, sparking incredible new ideas, receiving the validation they needed to take charge, empowering themselves with information and resources, lifting themselves out of impossible circumstances, growing incredible businesses and projects, and even bettering the lives of others with this bodiless boon.

But I also see the damage. The trickling faucets in the south. The sprawling facilities draining life and resources out of neighboring towns. AI-generated garbage piling up in everyone’s feed. Delusion. Isolation. Overwhelm. Disconnection. Stolen identities, stolen art, and atrociously abusive uses of a technology nobody quite understands. The harsh splitting of reality against the world we’d like to believe we live in.

The Call for Mindful Usage

How do we reckon with technologies that simultaneously free and uplift so many, but also cause unthinkable damage and are virtually unstoppable?

So many are screaming “STOP,” and many are trying. But we can’t escape it. In what felt like an instant, AI suddenly became completely integrated into every single software, app, or device we use. Truthfully, it has been used quietly since LONG before most of us were aware. We can opt out in a handful of places, but everywhere else, it has become the unavoidable norm.

There’s truly no comparison for the lightning-fast takeover and the staggering impact of AI upon our society. It can’t be contained into an analyze-able form because it’s evolving so fast. New, completely unregulated applications are appearing before we can even fully explore the existing tools, much less regulate them. Some organizations are trying, and we’re making an effort to follow their actions and guidance to make informed choices about our own usage.

Pivot’s Approach to AI

I’m personally unsure how to navigate the world we’ve been forced into, and that’s the inevitable nature of change. My current belief is that the best we can do is advocate for ethical constraints, regulated access, responsible usage, and constant monitoring. There’s no telling if or when our society will get a grasp on this technology and it’s hard to say where the responsibility ultimately lies, so we must try to share it.

Our approach at Pivot Content Marketing is to advocate for regulated and ethical use wherever possible, use it sparingly and transparently, and follow our own codes of ethics. We should also continuously re-assess those codes and actively listen for the impacts and changes to inform better (or reduced) usage.

Our team at Pivot Content uses AI to streamline operations and strategize. We use it to generate ideas when our usual creative block-busting strategies fail. We use it to jump-start research efforts. It generates written content for us quickly, which we then edit carefully and thoughtfully. It tracks and summarizes our meetings and activities, so projects don’t slip through the cracks. All of these things help us provide better services and stay competitive in a brutal economy for small businesses.

We at Pivot feel that AI is best used as another tool in our arsenal, but always with caution and human augmentation, and in moderation. Like any other tool. As far as we’re able, we try not to waste its power. We avoid generating art with AI because we feel it is a major disservice to artists and art as a whole. This is getting harder as certain apps become infiltrated with AI-augmented design tools and generated images that are becoming more difficult to distinguish.

We still design and write original content (like this piece), and check with our clients on their preferences and priorities. We educate ourselves and our clients as we go. We’re seeking ways to mitigate our own impact, and advocate for responsible use. We’re considering how to add transparency around where AI has been used or not, and creating a working policy so our audience and clients can make informed decisions.

Nothing can replace our personal touches, perspectives, originality, or experiences. I personally hope that people continue to educate themselves, and those that know me will be able to recognize and appreciate my voice versus the impostor’s, but it’s hard to say as the tech becomes more and more sophisticated. I’ll continue to write and create regardless, because it’s worth creating in this world. I should hope that other creators will do the same.

I ask this genuinely: what would you like to see from businesses in terms of AI utilization? Where are your feelings on this technology and its place in our lives? We want to know, and we want to move through this world and serve our communities mindfully. If you see a comment section, I invite you to leave your thoughts. If not, you’re welcome in our inbox.

info@pivotcontent.marketing

Keep showing up, and keep connecting.

Chelsea

NOTE: AI technologies and discourse are moving fast. Our team at Pivot will do our best to keep these articles and sources up to date with recent information, and remain mindful of bias in reporting.

Sources

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