Are You Struggling With AI?
Here's What I've Learnt

As an operations manager, I believe we are involved in a lot of optimisation activities every day. We are constantly trying to automate recurring tasks, and where our organisations are moving forward with AI implementation, we are trying to use it to speed things up.

The biggest challenge I see is that people are spending a lot of time using AI to get the right answers and to get the job done as expected. In the process, significant time is spent generating the answer, then checking it and making sure it is fit for purpose. We are using AI to redraft emails and messages to make them look more professional and relevant to the audience.

This is what I have learnt so far:

• 1 AI is great at reading and interpreting large documents. However, for those with the right knowledge, answers often come with gaps — and only that knowledge can help identify them.
• 2 It is important to provide the right context before asking a question. Simply by adding more context upfront, I get far more relevant answers and avoid going back and forth in loops of question and answer.
• 3 AI can really speed up your work when you have the right expertise. The chances are you will ask more precise questions with the right context — and get better results.
• 4 The skill of asking the right question is called prompting. Many of you may already know this, but many may not. It is worth learning deliberately rather than through trial and error.

We are in the early days of AI, and it can help us achieve a great deal if used with the right context. AI is not a complete replacement — but people who can use AI effectively can be.

Let's start using AI, learn from it, and implement it to increase our efficiency at work and in daily life.

The views expressed in this article are based on personal professional experience and observation. They do not constitute professional advice.