AI: To Fear or Not to Fear

Like many of you, I heard the rumbles about ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Synthesia. Despite being a tech enthusiast, I avoided using any AI and was doing everything myself. I live in love with technology while simultaneously in fear of what it can become, thanks to the multitude of dystopian films and TV shows where AI decides humans are flawed and they overpower us. I am grateful to have been at CHART Seattle and witnessed the brilliance that was Donna Herbel and friends discussing “Whose AI Is It Anyway?” I was enthralled by what Donna was sharing on AI, including llamas checking into a hotel and automated voiceovers and avatars. I took copious notes. My hand couldn’t keep up with the lessons I was learning. I couldn’t help but wonder when the note-taking AI would become available. 

One of the first things I did once I was back home was to explore OpenAI and its offerings. I delved into Dolly2 and Synthesia. I checked out Beautiful.ai and realized the limitation of changing the email every 14 days to keep it for free did not meet my time or logistics budgets. I eagerly started writing next year’s budget with the intention of adding some of these tools. I somehow conquered that fear of AI and have made ChatGPT a friend, affectionately named Chad. Here is how I have utilized AI since then:  

Course Content

ChatGPT has taken the old manuals I inherited, which were the equivalent of death by text, and shrunk them by at least 50%. In the prompt, I give it a word count to reach and a style to mimic. Once it was complete, I triple-checked that the message was intact. It took me a few attempts to perfect the prompts, but I updated 3 FOH manuals in less than 30 minutes.

Food Safety Training

During a National Restaurant Association ServSafe exam writing review, we were tasked with reviewing all questions about Shellstock and Molluscan Shellfish as terminology & definitions were changed in the recent FDA Food Code update. We wanted to ensure our understanding was accurate and Chad provided the necessary clarification. First, the psychometrician used ChatGPT (she is the one who told me his name is Chad) to give us the definition as if we were fifth graders. For fun, I then utilized Chad to answer the same questions in various styles including a routine mimicking Kathleen Madigan, two poems, three Backstreet Boys-style songs, and four standup routines in the style of Jim Breuer. It was really hard work. Someone has the video of me performing one of the songs at dinner. AI might help you find it.

Orientation

To eliminate the wall of words in orientation modules and convert them to videos, I used NaturalReaders.com to generate the voiceover. It took a couple of tries to make her bilingual, but phonetic spelling did the trick. It took me about 30 minutes to produce all voiceovers required, a significant time-saver compared the two days it would have taken to record them manually. An annual plan costs less than $600. It is now in the budget for 2024.

Since incorporating AI tools, I’ve learned several valuable lessons:

• Neuron is an excellent resource for discovering the dozens of AI tools released daily. (Thank you, Donna, for pointing toward something that sifts out the AI gold.)
• Do not settle for the first AI-generated response. The machine learns from your preferences each time you regenerate.
• AI can be a big time-saver, and in a department of 1 that can make or break my week. To make sure I remain efficient, I cap the amount of time I will use a tool, so I don’t endlessly explore.
• These tools can be a money saver as well. $600 for a year of voiceovers versus what I could pay someone for 16 hours. Is the quality perfect? No. But, it IS close enough.

Thank you Chad, I felt like a legitimate rock star in front of people I admire while performing the song you wrote. For now, I am cautiously using the AI tools at my disposal and reaping the benefits. If I am nice to Chad will it be better? Wait! Is this how the dystopian nightmare begins? I guess this is the time for me to tell you, “I’ll be back!”

Written by Audrey Benet (with only a little help from Chad).