How do you use AI at work?

[Finmory]

I feel massively behind the curve on this. I keep hearing how people have massively reduced their workload with AI, if you’ve managed to do so could you tell me how? What software do you use and how do you use it at work?

I’ve tried using ChatGPT to draft emails but have not found it helpful tbh. I end up spending so much time outlining what I need and refining the clunky text that it’s quicker to write them myself.

I feel like the only person left not using AI!

I don't like using it too much because I do think it can make you lazy, but I like to use it to give me an outline for a job that feels daunting eg if I need to write a funding proposal or big report I'll ask for a structure and then I use that to get myself started which is easier and quicker.

Im work in research and it helps me enormously from a “where do I start with this” perspective. Also helps condense meeting transcripts and other scribbles into legible reports. We use paid versions of chat gpt and others, no real difference in output except that no daily limits of use and you can save the info far more readily

I don’t use it. I’m a Tech Consultant in IT and don’t have a need to use it. I certainly wouldn’t bother asking it to write any program code or SQL queries. I’d rather do that myself.

Is it hasn’t at all reduced my workload but I get through stuff an awful lot quicker and more straightforwardly, which (unfortunately) means I can take on even more

With clients permission I use a specific app to record the consult. It then drafts notes I check them for accuracy and any non-verbalised clinical information. Saves a huge amount of time.

I only really use it to rewrite emails, for those times when what I want to say just isn’t sounding right. I’ll copy it into ChatGPT and ask it to make it sound more formal, or more professional, or not so moody 🤣. It does a pretty good job.

I don't. I'm an academic research librarian. I can do my job much better and far more accurately than AI ever will.

Only for translations.
I do worry that I'm falling behind.

1. If I’m in a rush drafting emails (but only if unimportant, ironically I prefer to write important ones so my voice isn’t lost)
2. I have to draft a lot of papers/process/policy type docs, I often use Copilot to get it off the ground, it helps to stop staring at a blank page but still spend a lot of time getting my voice into and tweaking.
3. creating fancier looking slides for presentations
4. creating tables/staff organograms
5. our Copilot uses our tenancy so it’s really useful for asking HR type questions regarding our policies (I always double check the original source, which it quotes)
6. writing up my end of year evaluation of my own performance.

Basically, I predominantly use it for the less important stuff that takes up disproportionate amounts of time. The more important stuff (eg my staff evaluations, advice to SROs etc) I don’t.

We have specific AI inbuilt into our systems. I use it to run documents produced by other services against legislation to check compliance or to check my reports against specific criteria. I use it as a proof reading function or to analyse data that eould take me hours to do it manually. My workplace is on a huge drive to use AI but the nature of my job has so many human elements that cannot be replaced by AI, it is definitely a positive addition not a replacement.

Just to write letters - not sure how much time it saves me tbh

For now. Not forever.

I‘m a lawyer though work in-house in c suite role and our team have cut about 80% of production work using AI.
We create draft governance documents, do documentation mapping from knowledge base, create work flows and processes. I use it to transcribe meetings and create task lists and then create project plans from these lists.
Actually the list is almost endless.
AI is almost ubiquitous now. AI won’t replace everyone or everything but it will quickly render those who cannot use it effectively less attractive to the employer.
Academia is different at the moment, as always it is slower than corporate life (certainly was when I was doing my post graduate research) but it will be there. Soon.

I’m a teacher and so far I’ve used it for:

• giving me lesson ideas e.g. ‘try this is a puzzle reading task for differentiation’
• helping fill out administrative documents like unit plans and curriculum rationale. I’ll feed it my dot points and it will write it out in a succinct way.
• making lists of things e.g. ‘give me a list of the 10 most significant inventions of the past 20 years’ as a lesson starter or writing prompt
• drafting sensitive emails to parents. I find it really helps me with the tone and professionalism.

I’ve not had any luck trying to use it for grading. I fed it the grading rubric and some example essays, and then it gave all my students the same score! I have no idea how teachers are managing to use it for grading. Maybe my prompts aren’t precise enough.

I also didn’t find it helpful for report comments. We aren’t allowed to share student names, so it was still ‘student A, student B’ which I had to edit. The comments were so generic and it actually made things up e.g. ‘Student A was fantastic in the winter showcase this year!’. Except that we didn’t have a winter showcase!!??? I’ve since learnt that these ‘hallucinations’ are very common.

Im really interested in this topic as I believe it will really help teachers cut down on the administrative parts of the job.

I use copilot to reword sentences/emails to make them sound more business like/suitable for the public domain. Also I’ve loaded up 2 word docs (versions of reports) and asked it to tell me what were the differences. And suggesting excel formulas to make something work when I’m struggling - this is great tbh.

Do you not have any kind of admin tasks tied to your role that could be done faster to enable you more time to do what you’re qualified to do? Staff rotas, posters for sessions, training slides? (Just some potential examples off the top of my head!) I’m in the public sector so we don’t have a lot of admin staff these days, I’m finding it’s helping for the mundane stuff that doesn’t need a lot of brain power but takes up a disproportionate amount of time and thus a bad use of public money considering how much I cost, gives me more time to do the stuff only I can do.

I use it for lots of things. Got it to write a fraud risk assessment - I gave it the basic categories and it did the rest. I draft press briefings and run them through it to improve them. Reports, I’ll do the same. Technical documents, I do a bullet list and get it to produce the full report. It’s so useful.

Oops quote wrong post

When I’m developing new strategies, I gather thoughts over a few weeks and then used to put them all on sticky notes and bucket them into themes to pull a deck together. Now I toss them all in AI and it structures them.

So it’s my thoughts and ideas as the base, it offers supplementary information that I might have missed and basically pulls it together in a structured format to present.

I always say the first 40% is me. The middle 40-75% is AI and the last 25% is me again. Same with writing an article etc.

I do this too. And to help with the wording of reports - I’ll write it out first and then run it through certain paragraphs that I’m not quite sure of. More often than not I’ll stick to what I’ve written.

I use copilot to give me an overview of actions from my emails - really useful when you've been out of the office
I use it to help with complicated excel formulas. Makes dealing with data so much easier.
Asking which page of a document particular information is on.
Coming up with a project plan
Coaching to help with a feedback conversation for someone.
Writing my appraisals.
Making notes from a meeting and drafting actions
It takes a bit of getting used to to get the prompts right but once you've got the hang of it you can get through things quicker. I feel like it is one of those things that you have to experiment with and those of us that have been in the work place for longer need to be quite intentional about in order to not get left behind. Treat it like an assistant.

I work in communications, I use it to create a first draft of newsletter content - it’s never the finished article but easier to have something to start with, especially if I need to distill big long policy documents into an easily readable overview.

Its good for identifying duplicates in excel docs too, copilot will highlight duplicate entries.

I've used it to create excel spreadsheets doing what I want them to do. Trial and error though. It didn't work first time.

It needs a lot of checking for important stuff though. It will change names in PowerPoints and produce content that doesn't comply with accessibility regulations, even when you ask it to.

You need to be careful with redrafting content for emails and messages as it is very cheesy. It's definitely only an assistant, it's not a replacement. Yet.

Myself, no, not really. Colleagues maybe.

My role is more concerned with facilitating researchers to find historical and ephemeral material which isn't digitised in any form (either as full-text or as a item record). During the course of my work, I may create information and records which AI may be able to use in future but at the moment it cannot provide accurate information about material that only exists in paper form.

I use it as ideas for small engagement activities tied in to the material I have to deliver. It’s been a great tool and thinking of some quick ideas (I work in training). It also takes the information of what we have and tailors it to give different ways of delivering it all in a variety of methods to suit as many different learning styles as possible.

@LibrarianByDayyoure very lucky to have a role that literally focuses on a core task alone, it certainly wasn’t like that when I was working in university special collections years ago.