The importance of human oversight in AI-generated content

SALT LAKE CITY — When integrating artificial intelligence into your workspace, Matt Harrison, a Python and AI corporate trainer at Metasnake, suggests approaching it as a tool, like a child learning to use a calculator.

"Before we learned how to use the calculator, what did we have to do? I don't know about you, but in my schooling, I had to do a bunch of times tables," he said. "Pages of practice where I would add two numbers and multiply two numbers and divide two numbers."

Harrison added, "After you get good at doing that (mental math), guess what they say, 'Oh, there's this tool that does that for you.' ... I think the idea there is if you didn't do that work, and I just gave you this calculator, you'd probably be like, 'It's got numbers on it, and when I type things into it, stuff happens, but I don't understand what's happening.'"

When using artificial intelligence, the phrase "work smarter, not harder" should be kept in mind. It's great for repetitive tasks, but without fundamental skills, it lacks benefits.

Speaking on the AI track at the Utah Business Forward conference Wednesday at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City, Harrison joined a lineup of industry experts sharing strategies for businesses to thrive in today's competitive landscape.

Speakers ranged from across the Utah business market, from Ballerina Farms' Hannah Neeleman to real estate developer and managing partner at Black Desert Resort, Patrick Manning, speaking at length about acquisitions, AI, branding, entrepreneurship, people and culture as well as performance.

AI: A collaborator, not a replacement

Clémence Roger, head of SEO at software company MasterControl Solutions, emphasized the notion that AI can free up time by executing repetitive tasks, giving people more time to focus on creative outlets in their careers or businesses.

She explained that it can help you create and optimize content, but AI still needs human oversight for accuracy.

"AI has saturated every industry," so to keep your business unique to its branding, Roger warned against using AI's generic marketing and "buzzwords" for your business because it will "essentially (leave) no engagement with your brand" and diminish originality.

"The quality of your input equals (the) quality of your output," Roger explained. The more information you put in the AI generator — and the nicer you are to it, Harrison noted — the more useful it will be.

But as informative as it is, Harrison said there are still specialties in which humans tend to outrank AI. It's great at "brainstorming" and "renaming things," but where human intellect excels is in creativity, taking ideas and connecting them.

"Humans are also great at understanding the context, right? They know where something has been, or like the path of where you're going," he added. "Humans hopefully have some empathy, like they understand the audience that they're working with and want to take this audience on a journey, and they can take feedback and maybe incorporate that."

Understanding how your audience will respond to AI-generated content is important when utilizing it effectively. Roger emphasized the importance of asking yourself the following questions when creating content:

• How does my audience engage with it?
• Would they be OK with having AI-generated content, or would they not?
• Would they even think that the content is AI-generated?

"What I do is I do testing, and if I see that they engage with it, then I will continue that way," Roger said.

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