Hollywood has long imagined the rise of Artificial Intelligence – usually in the form of a conscious car (remember Kitt from Knight Rider?), a self aware super computer (hey Skynet) or even a conscientious cleaner robot in the form of Wall-E. What we’ve never seen though is the futurised impact of AI on real businesses, in the real world. Perhaps Hollywood doesn’t deem that fanciful enough for its next blockbuster, but I for one would absolutely be at that show!
With AI now firmly beyond the realms of theoretical concepts and movie fantasies, I am in awe of how quickly it has been adopted and applied to real world situations. As a technologist, I’m often quite sceptical about ‘new technologies’, seeing many launched in a blaze of glory, spinning up the Gartner hype cycle, but almost always landing and staying useful in only very specific industries or use cases. I feel very different about AI. Unlike other technological waves, this one not only changes what we can build, it also fundamentally changes how we build software. At GCD we have fully embraced AI in assisting how we write, review and test our code, enabling us to build better software faster. We are only at the beginning of what this technology can do. There is going to be a seismic shift, on a scale seen most recently only by the invention of the internet and mobile phones, and we need to be ready for it. I’ll refrain from my spiel on the potential dangers of AI; it being akin to summoning of the devil etc. That’s for my next article!
At GCD, a lot of our work is now focused on advising companies on how best to adopt and leverage AI technology. But I’m going to let you in on a secret. My advice to every company is to not start with the question “How can I use AI in my business?”. This seems like an obvious starting point, but just like “We need an App” and “We need a website” before it, by starting with the solution, you naturally stop at the first seemingly good idea of how you can use new technology, often missing the most impactful opportunity.The better question to start with is “What challenges or opportunities are there within my business that may now be solvable as a result of advances in technology?”. The work thereafter is to explore how those challenges can be solved and whether AI could be part of the solution. So much money and investment has been wasted on trying to shoehorn AI and other new technologies, that are buzzwords of the moment, into businesses that can solve their challenges in easier, cheaper and less complex ways. Not every job requires a hammer! It’s always about using the right tool, for the right job, in the right way.
Having said all that, we are seeing some really exciting applications of AI within local Northern Ireland businesses. Things that were previously impossible or prohibitively expensive to build are now affordably within reach. Some of the areas that we are already delivering AI solutions include a custom AI chatbot for a property portal, analysing and summarising large documents, smart image detection, automated data extraction from documents and predictive analysis of large data sets. The possibilities are endless. The impact this technology is having (across not only established businesses looking to innovate, but also within the start-up space) is vast and is a bandwagon that I’m firmly jumping on (whilst still beating my drum that it should only be used where it makes sense to).
And just to confirm, ChatgGPT did not write this article for me 😉 These words and opinions are my own. I draw a line at using AI to write my thoughts. I’ve watched too many Matrix movies to fall for that one.
If you’d like to arrange a chat, email info@gcdtech.com, or call us on +442838341205.
Originally posted in The Irish News, on 25/03/2025 Read original article here
