Years ago, everyone would come to me and ask for my advice on new technology. I was what they called an early adopter. I loved experimenting with new technologies. I was one of the first to have Google Glass, and I always had the most up-to-date technology, whether it was a new iPhone, computer or watch. Today, I still stay up to date on technology, although I am not waiting up for midnight to order the new iPhones anymore.

However, there is a new technology that I am learning about in real time: artificial intelligence (AI). If you think about it, AI has been around us for a long time, although it may have been very primitive. With documents and spreadsheets, these AI features have offered suggestions for better word use or better formula formats for a long time.

But AI today is something much more advanced and the rate of advancement is hard to keep up with. From an online marketing perspective, AI is far from perfect and has its fair share of challenges. For example, with search engine optimization, AI breaks many of the rules search engines like Google have with regards to indexing information about our businesses. And the ironic thing about that is it’s the search engine’s own AI programs that are breaking the search engine rules. My point here is that growth is happening so fast that even the billion-dollar search engines are having trouble keeping up with the technology they created. And yes, this can be very scary.

However, AI technology is proving useful in many applications, including writing specific articles for our business, photography advancements, which have been amazing, and even doing simple social media posts. They have all been simplified using AI. At the same time, there are some big changes coming and I think it is difficult to predict how these changes will affect our businesses. My prediction is as AI continues to improve, so will the technology’s ability to help our businesses and our decision making.

In closing, I might be considered “old fashioned” now, but I still think the best decision-making is in using our own brain power. There is a place for AI, but I do not believe it can take the place of the experience we have developed over the years. It’s great technology but it does not take the place of our own brain power.

Great selling!