This month, on one of the forums I participate in, Chat GPT was one of the topics of conversation. Contributors were playing around with a well-known artificial intelligence (AI) program to produce amusing limericks, poems and ditties.
This amusement led to members asking said program to produce articles on subjects such as how sunglasses protect your eyes, or why regular eye exams are important.
These were incredibly accurate and well written articles, which some members felt they could use (with some tweaking) in their practice newsletters and patient communications.
Participants unfamiliar with this technology were blown away by the speed and accuracy of the articles, leading to the question ‘will AI take over our profession?’.
A few months earlier, I experienced the opposite end of this spectrum, as I hosted the spring round of Peer Group Retreats, where small groups of non-competing practice owners meet face to face to discuss their businesses. They share their ideas, discuss their challenges and critique each other’s businesses in a safe and confidential space.
Will AI take over?
It is interesting to contrast these two types of interactions and see whether they compete or complement each other. Clearly, AI, being new and different will lead to cries of ‘it’s all over’ and ‘we are all going to be out of work’. History tells us, of course, that we are, in general, fearful and sceptical about emerging technology.
Those of you who are my generation, and are old enough to recall the first smartphones, may remember how this introduction was also going to put us all out of work. These phones would be able to examine eyes, dispense spectacles and even make the tea.
It has, of course, helped us immensely, with faster and more effective ways to communicate with each other. While it has not taken over, it has helped us to find ways to improve how we work.
What about human contact?
Thinking about meeting face to face, for me, this still holds huge value. Finding the germ of an idea and developing it is something that can only be done when honest and challenging conversations are had. AI, so far as I can see, relies on data; big data, as it is often referred to.
It needs this to calculate probabilities and trends, which it used for formulating answers to the questions it poses.
The notion of taking one thing and making it into something meaningful, for example in terms of an idea that will improve customer service levels, seems to me to be something only humans can do.
Where human interaction also trumps AI is that humans have the ability to learn from one single experience and extrapolate that into something meaningful for their practice.
Then, there is the notion of learning from our colleagues’ experiences and understanding not just the theory of an idea, but whether some new idea or concept worked in practice.
The collective power of a group of people trying different ideas out and coming together to discuss what did and did not work is invaluable.
The same goes within businesses. Bringing the team together to discuss the business will lead to ideas you cannot think of alone.
Spending time with your people, both together and in one-to-ones, so that you can really understand their challenges and issues facing the business will help them feel a valued and important part of the team.
Human and AI in combination
In conclusion, I think my current view is that AI offers an amazing opportunity to enhance and improve what we already have. However, it cannot replace the richness of conversations, debate and the sharing of ideas together.
When you signed up to run your own practice, you will recall that nobody gave you the manual of how to run a business perfectly. Being at the head of a business can be a lonely place and although AI may help you to produce brochures or build your website, it cannot expand your thinking in the same way as talking to others who share your experiences as a business owner.