Artificial Intelligence: What does it mean for your trade business?

Andy 
Hey Siri?

Ange
Uh, no. My name’s Ange.

Andy 
Alexa.

Ange
Uh, kind of close. What are you playing at?

Andy 
I’m introducing this week’s episode topic, which is the big buzz for 2023, and that is drum roll please. Yeah. Okay. Artificial Intelligence.

Ange
All right, I get it. So I guess most people wouldn’t think of the likes of Siri and Alexa when you think about artificial intelligence, but it is kind of one of the first crazy experiences that we’ve had with AI.

Andy 
For sure because technology has seriously skyrocketed over the past 10 to 20 years. Its capabilities seem to be limitless. Now the world is truly digital. You only have to walk down the street to see that everyone has got their heads down. Looking at their phones, it’s even hard to keep your team’s eyes and hands away from their phone when they’re at work these days. You know, everyone literally has this little mini computer attached to them at all hours of the day.

Ange
Yeah, well, like literally, especially if you have an Apple watch around your wrist.

Andy 
Uh, exactly. And just to throw a fun fact in here, do you know that the average person uses their phone for three hours per day?

Ange
That’s, wow.

Andy 
Three hours, seven days a week. That’s a total of 21 hours a week. That’s almost an entire day of their week gone.

Ange
Wow. That is huge.

Andy 
But it is huge, isn’t it? If you chat to everyone, they’re just so busy, they’ve got no time for anything else, but they can spend 21 hours a week strolling on TikTok and Instagram and Facebook. Seriously, and if you haven’t already adapted and accepted that technology is here to stay for the long term. Then guess what guys? You are seriously gonna be left behind.

Ange
Well, those phrases you just mentioned just before in your fun fact, like limitless and adapting and accepting, that actually reminds me of a book that I love. So I’m gonna cut to a super quick book review before we get into the nitty gritty of AI.

Andy 
Okay. Go for it, baby!

Ange
All right. It’s called the Infinite Game by Simon Sinek.

Andy 
Love it.

Ange
He also wrote another of my favorites called Leaders Eat Last, but The Infinite Game basically talks about finite minded leaders as in those who are present within the current situation. Play to win. So if you think of it like Monopoly, say they’re that family member that wants to storm the board and take everyone’s money and property.

Andy 
Yeah. Geez. I definitely know that one. That is our 13 year old son, Isaac, for sure. And maybe a little bit me.

Ange
Yes, exactly. Or in business, they’re driven by short term wins, whereas infinite minded leaders look at the future. So to go back to monopoly analogy, they’re the parents who’re playing to keep the peace. They’re playing for the good of all, and they want to keep the fun going.

Andy 
That is definitely you.

Ange
I just don’t wanna deal with the fights, you know?

Andy 
Yeah, fair enough.

Ange
But hey, in business terms, it means a business owner or leader who makes decisions for the overall good of the business, not based on short-term wins so that the business can survive and prosper. Does that make sense or am I talking mumbo jumbo?

Andy 
No, I think it definitely makes sense and I do agree it’s a great book. So get out there and read that and relate it back to the idea of technology, it’s basically a kick up the bum for all the old cods out there who don’t like the sound of all this new Fang dangle technology stuff. And just to make sure they take a step back and think about how that will affect their business, their team, their family in the long run by not looking at technology the right way.

Ange
Yeah, for sure. Because you won’t have a business that will be able to play the infinite game without keeping up with the times.

Andy 
Exactly.

Ange
So dare I say that the majority of our listeners don’t fall into that category simply because they’re tuning in on a fairly recent piece of technology. But I could be wrong.

Andy 
Come on. There’s definitely someone out there listening. I guarantee it, who’s still sitting in that truck? And if you look into the passenger seat right now, guess what? There’s a paper diary. Oh my God. Come on. Fess up guys. You sit in your truck now, put up your hand if you’ve got that paper diary sitting next to you or sitting on the dashboard, and that’s how you run your business. Yes, come on!

Ange
Righto. Stop ripping into the listeners and let’s dive into what we’re here to talk about. Let’s talk about artificial intelligence and how it can benefit your trade business.

Andy 
Yes, let’s do it. There has been some massive talk since late last year, early this year about the new AI that’s come out, the one in particular that has gained a great deal of airtime. Everyone’s talking about it, and no doubt everyone’s heard about it. And it’s also the one we’ll talk about today, and that is called ChatGPT.

Ange
Yeah. I’ve been playing with it a bit lately and seriously, this thing is next level. I can see so many ways that a trade or contracting business can use this in their business to save so much time, creative energy, and basically money.

Andy 
Yes, that’s definitely true. I do wanna go back a little bit in time though, because whilst we think AI is brand new, Guess what? It really isn’t because Andy’s done a little bit of research, baby.

Ange
Alright, go for it. Smarty pants.

Andy 
Well, according to Google, the beginnings of modern AI can be traced all the way back to the 1950s when they conceptualized. Did I say that right? God, look at me trying to be all clever and I can’t even get the word right. Here we go again. Let me see if I can get it right. Conceptualized. And they coined the term artificial intelligence.

Ange
Alright.

Andy 
Settle, go.

Ange
Good work.

Andy 
Oh, thanks. Thanks. And guess what? The first AI program to run was actually a Checkers playing program.

Ange
No way. That’s cool. I didn’t actually realize it went back so far. And now a lot of us do interact with AI on a daily basis with the likes of Siri and Alexa. It’s just too easy and convenient.

Andy 
Yeah, it is really convenient. And I actually even had my son in the car. He is 13 and um, I actually use Siri all the time. I don’t touch my phone that much, especially when I’m driving. I don’t touch it at all. Yeah. But, um, I use it and he’s like, wow, that’s so cool. I’m like, well, why don’t you use it? He goes, eh, dunno, dunno. So there you go. One for the oldies, yoooo! But yeah, had it, it has really come a long way. And this new ChatGPT and other text and picture generators are definitely the new thing. But guess what? ChatGPT isn’t the only program out there.

Ange
Yeah. Awesome. Because you are so clever and have done all this research, I’ll let you explain what it is to everyone.

Andy
Hell yeah! Well I will then, and I’ll do it in the Andy terms and not the Google terms, so everyone gets it. ChatGPT is a really smart computer program that can understand and write, or just like a person so it can understand what you are asking of it and it responds in a way that makes sense. So it can write stories, it can translate languages, it can write jokes. You might have to use that a few times, Ange. Basically anything you want and it does it just like a human.

Ange
Yeah. Wow. So cool. Kind of like having your own robot friend that can help you with your homework.

Andy 
Well, yes, and I can help you with your homework. And just saying that good friends of ours, daughter got criticized for doing an assignment with ChatGPT.

Ange
No way.

Andy 
And they were like, definitely, she didn’t know much about it. She didn’t use it, so they were totally, we’re like, no, that’s not true. But the school was adamant that she had, because they’d used some type of checking device to check and it said ChatGPT. But then they found out, when you’ve done your research, it’s about 10% of the times they actually get it wrong. They don’t even know about ChatGPT. So geez, I tell you what, the school teachers and students, it’s gonna be tough times around these homework and assignments and all that kind of stuff.

Ange
That’s gonna be tricky because the kids are gonna wanna cheat and the teachers are gonna wanna catch them.

Andy 
Yeah, but if going back to a trade business, if you’re setting yourself some homework and you’re using ChatGPT, you’ve gotta make sure that you check it. Because a lot of the time it sounds okay, but it just doesn’t sound perfect.

Ange
That’s it. You do need to proofread.

Andy 
So the two obvious ways tradies and contractors can use this program is to create social media posts or maybe do some blog posts or you know, maybe put some content up on their website as well. It’s just off the top of my head, but I can tell you what guys, there’s so many more things you can use it for.

Ange
Yeah, I’ve played around with it a bit and it’s ridiculously powerful. You simply put in a prompt, like write me a 500 word blog post on the purpose of flexi hoses in a home for a plumbing company. And then you press send basically and talk about the response being so spot on.

Andy 
Yeah, it’s really good, and I liked the prompt. You know, we set it up. So I said, write me a 50 word Facebook post about hot water systems for an example, and it spat out an almost perfectly crafted piece of text that you needed to edit a little bit and copy and paste, and then bang. Straight onto Facebook as simple as that.

Ange
Yeah, absolutely. I like the fact that within seconds you could be fed with 20 suggestions of powerful headlines for the ad just to capture your potential customer’s attention. That normally takes us hours to create.

Andy 
Yeah, and Copywriting has been a really big thing, and I know you have done copywriting courses and all this kind of stuff. It’s, it’s all out the window, you know, I think something like this is such a breakthrough in technology that it’s almost a little scary, and we are hearing a lot of people a little bit concerned about it, and it could be costing jobs in the future, but the benefits for small business like trading, contracting businesses are out of this world.

Ange
Yeah. ChatGPT can do a multitude of different copywriting tasks for you, like writing, marketing assets, writing copy for your website, writing letters to customers and suppliers, writing emails, creating phone and sales scripts, and even responding to customer reviews. The list almost seems endless.

Andy 
Yeah, it basically is endless. You know, in terms of the benefits though, it’s essentially giving tradies access to a skill set that previously most of us don’t have, and that is copywriting.

Ange
True.

Andy 
Tradies aren’t gonna take to learn how to write blogs and whatnot. They’re there to learn how to use the tools and master the craft, so when they become the business owner and suddenly have all these tasks on their plate that require them to write like a professional copywriter. Oh my God, I know about you out there, but for me it was really, really daunting. So this takes the pressure off them and gives them a base to work with.

Ange
Yeah right. So additionally, what might have taken them two hours to write will actually take five to 10 minutes. So this saves some serious time. And of course time equals money.

Andy 
Yeah, definitely does. And it also saves, and maybe even more money cuz I’m not sure what tradies are doing at the moment, but some people are using copywriters and they’re using it on platforms like Upworks and, and through external businesses. And guess what? Maybe you don’t need to do that anymore and you can do it yourself. And in saying that, we were actually using our team in the Philippines, the right blogs and we had between six or eight of them and they were doing around about 2,500 word articles a week. And we were just pumping these blogs out because we had like, what about 113, 114 websites at the time. And we needed new content to be put up every single day. Well, that sort of work, you just don’t need to use someone for that anymore.

Ange
Well, huge investment, right? But now we save not just time, but money.

Andy 
Yeah. It was a big investment and it really helped us back in the day. But now, yeah, you don’t need to be doing that.

Ange
That’s it. You know what, it’s actually catch 22. I don’t think copywriters will be completely null and void because it is an art because there’s something to be said about having AI written websites versus a professionally crafted website. It can work for someone who maybe just needs something really simple, but perhaps not for these big corporations. But it definitely will make a few jobs or services redundant in a way.

Andy 
And to kind of defend this a little, um, I dunno, a lot of people haven’t heard this, but Google aren’t really that happy about ChatGPT. They have come out and said that they’re gonna try and rank down websites that use AI generated copy. So yeah,

Ange
I can imagine.

Andy 
Because I’m such a reader. No, I actually read it when I was doing that research. I read an article that said they were working on it, but they hadn’t quite cracked the code as yet. But you know what? Eventually it’s definitely gonna happen. And as something to take into consideration if you’re using it to write websites or blog posts now, because you don’t wanna be blacklisted or have any of those challenges in the future.

Ange
No, you don’t.

Andy 
Additionally, I also read that Microsoft has invested something crazy, like 14 billion dollars into open AI and is working on integrating this with their search platform on Bing. So the future of SEO is about to get very, very wild, and I know there’s a lot of tradies out there that spend quite a bit of money on SEO, so be careful. Talk to the people you’re working with and see what their plan is for the future.

Ange
So you are saying Microsoft invested 14 billion dollars. That is such a lot of money.

Andy 
It is a lot of money.

Ange
I think with ChatGPT or just AI in general, it just takes away a bit of creative autonomy. You know, this creative flare that kids have. Kids in school, when they get given a homework or an essay, the whole idea is for them to flex their creativity and come up with solutions to problems. The homework is presenting them, and when we think of trade, we’re coming up with a copy for marketing assets that make us think creatively and be different to other people. Right? And now all they have to do is chuck it into an AI problem and they’ve got a solution to work off. It might make them all the same.

Andy 
Yeah, a hundred percent. But let’s go back to the good old days when we used to do mathematics without a calculator and now the kids couldn’t add one plus function without it, one without a calculator.

Ange
That’s so true.

Andy 
So, you know, that’s the part of technology that is changing, you know, um, you know, so we’ve got, you’ve gotta be with the times and everything in life as we move forward would be like that.

Ange
So where do we go from here? What do you suggest our listeners do?

Andy 
Well, I suggest if you haven’t already, definitely dive in and see what it can do for you in your business. Um, you’d be silly not to check it out. This is the latest trend, and utilizing this somewhere in your business can be really, really powerful. And it’s currently free. They may look at charging soon. So I’ve heard there are parts of it that they do charge for.

Ange
Yeah, you’d be silly to just copy and paste what the AI feeds you. The text still needs to have a human review from you before you go and put it somewhere that’s gonna be seen as representing your brand. But you know what? I actually did use AI recently, Andy, what I put in suggest 50 creative ideas for birthday presents for a 16 year old?

Andy 
Oh wow. How did it go?

Ange
That was sick. Literally with a blink of an eye. It shot back 50 ideas and I didn’t even have to come up with them myself.

Andy 
To be honest, there’s so many things that this AI can do that we haven’t even got remotely close to, and it is really, really scary. But you know what? It’s technology and it’s the sign of the time, so make sure you adopt technology. Keep moving forward with the Smart Cats. And it’ll set your business up well and truly into the future.

Ange
Agreed.

Andy 
I think that’s about a wrap up for this episode Ange, what do you think?

Ange
Yep, absolutely. I totally agree. That’s a wrap. Catch you next time guys.

Andy 
See you.

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