AI adoption is a mindset shift

Where are you in your AI journey? Maybe you’re in denial and hoping the lid on this Pandora’s box will somehow be put back in place. Perhaps you’ve dipped in a curious toe, or even with both feet. And some of you may have even done a cannon ball into the deep end of AI. Wherever you are, we talked to a few Cincinnati early AI adopters to get their top recommendations for tools you can start using literally right now.

Their biggest insight: AI adoption is a mindset shift. You don’t have to carve out time to learn any of these tools. Rather, invite it to be a collaborator on whatever you’re doing today. Be it a professional task or a personal endeavor, AI can likely lend a helping hand.

ChatGPT
This Swiss-army-knife AI tool is literally at the top of the list for all the users interviewed. AI champion and owner of KR Digital Agency, Kendra Ramirez, calls it her AI sidekick. “This is the tool I use every single day for brainstorming, decision making, writing, summarizing, meeting prep, you name it. It’s like having a strategist, writer, and research assistant all in one. I also use the GPTs that I built,” she says.

Loran Williams, Vice President at Ascendum Solutions, points out even more go-to ChatGPT capabilities. “It helps with everything from writing emails and resumes to coding, data analysis and customer support. It really can help me with most things,” she explains.

It’s equally adept after work hours. Catie Doebler, a strategic leader in the AI space and a mom of two, frequently uses it for vacation planning and kid-centric stories. “It's a great way to create a custom / timely read that resonates with a particular topic (maybe a character they like, or a recent situation they've been experiencing). 

However, I always remind them that this is a computer writing this story (same with the home voice assistant) so they begin to understand the technology and can learn to use it responsibly,” she explains.

Lauren Morgenstein Schiavone, owner of Wonder Consulting.Honestly, ChatGPT may be the only AI you really need, especially if you’re budgeting for paid versions. “I often tell leaders not to get distracted by every shiny new tool. Start by mastering a tool like ChatGPT. When you pair your expertise with its capabilities, you unlock real superpowers,” advises Lauren Morgenstein Schiavone, owner of Wonder Consulting, focused on AI and business strategy.

AI Kickstart: Next time you text someone birthday greetings, have ChatGPT give you an AI assist. Tell it a little about the birthday boy or girl’s likes, interests and age, then ask it to write a limerick or haiku. You can also have it generate an image to go alongside. Another idea: Feed it a picture of your person and ask it to transform it into a particular style, like a Pixar-inspired animation, for instance.

Canva
If you haven’t played around in this extremely user-friendly platform yet, it’s so worth it. Kendra describes it as “visual content without the bottleneck.” Its AI-infused capabilities make design for any channel or platform quick, simple and very fun. “Whether it’s ideas or customizing a template for social media, flyers, pitch decks, or AI-generated images, Canva makes it effortless to create beautiful content even if design isn’t your thing. It lets you move fast, stay on-brand, and look professional,” explains Kendra.

AI Kickstart: Use it to make a birthday invitation. Search the designs for the age and theme to get a template, then see just how fast and dead-simple it is to add the details, download it as a PNG or JPG and email or text it out.

Midjourney
This AI tool turns text prompts into rich visuals. It’s a go-to for Jorge Perez, President and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati. “It makes cool pictures and art from your ideas,” he says. This works best if you have a detailed idea of what you want to create.

Midjourney AI-generated imageThis is an AI-generated image. See the Midjourney AI Kickstart (prompt) to learn how it was co-created with AI.AI Kickstart: Here’s an example of a very detailed prompt and the visual it produced: (Prompt) hyper realistic photo of a pink ocean-blue and white colored porcelain betta fish, with its back made from milky white cloudy epoxy resin containing dried flowers inside the epoxy, dried flowers visible through the white milky resin, photographed from above, white backdrop, microphotography, hyper detailed.

Ideogram
If you’ve been frustrated with wonky text when generating AI images in Dall-E (within ChatGPT), you might prefer Ideogram. It also has a generous free plan, 40 images a week. That’s why it’s top of mind for Lauren. “Ideogram is one of my go-to tools for creating custom visuals. I used to spend way too much time searching for the perfect image on Google. Now I can generate exactly what I need in seconds. The image quality is high, and the creative range is impressive,” she says.

AI Kickstart: Having friends over for a summer grill out? Send a fun visual text invite featuring Ideogram-designed art. For instance, ask it to create an illustrated style image of a plate filled with the menu you have planned, with words such as “Come on over!”

Otter.ai
Do you go to a lot of meetings? This is Kendra’s hands-down reco for taking note-taking off your plate. She calls it “meeting minutes on autopilot.” Yes, please. “Otter records, transcribes, and highlights key points. It’s perfect for 1:1s, interviews, or large team meetings. It integrates with Zoom and syncs to your calendar,” she explains.

AI Kickstart: Notetaking AI tools like Otter.ai, Sembly and Fathom generally have a free trial version. Try it out once or twice to see how you like it. Also, if you have CoPilot integrated into your Microsoft Suite, it can be your notetaker.

NotebookLM
This one makes it to the top of Jorge’s list for its cool functionality that lets you digest information in new ways. “It organizes your notes and helps you understand them better,” he explains. Like many of these tools, this one has the feel of being pure magic because it can transform your inputs into a conversational podcast style in minutes.

AI Kickstart: Feed it your resume, your Linked In summary and anything else you have written down about your professional life. Ask it to make a podcast about you, then take a listen.


Editor's note: Soapbox does not use an AI service to create images or illustrations to publish in our publication with the exception of provided and verified architectural renderings. The samples of AI-generated illustrations for this news story contain credit for the AI platforms used for collaboration. Externally, as we use AI in our journalism, we will document and describe the tools with specificity.

This series of stories about local people who are early AI adopters is intended to further the understanding of AI and connect the local community with AI tools, resources and  recommendations.
 

Read more in this series: 
It's not so bad to be stuck in the middle with AI 

When it comes to AI, the little guy (finally) has the advantage