AI in the workplace: Here now, and more to come
Artificial intelligence, or AI, is changing the way businesses operate, and its use is expected to only become more prevalent in the future.

Ken Opremke, regional manager of Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania, said he’s seeing more and more business models that include the use of AI.

Ben Franklin makes seed investments in early-stage technology companies, funds innovation in established manufacturers, and supports clients with in-house experts and a network of technical and business resources.

“It’s not just about a cool technology, it’s about a useful tool that facilitates marketing and business efficiency,” Opremke said.

Bethany Staples, executive creative director and CEO at Market Share Consulting in Olyphant, said that although she dabbled in using AI on a personal level when ChatGPT was released, she didn’t feel comfortable using it in her marketing and consulting business until this past summer.

“That was when I started recognizing (the value in) the use of AI for repetitive tasks and things that I otherwise was spending a ton of time doing that could just be easily done in half of the time by automating those things,” Staples said.

But she doesn’t like AI for creative aspects of her work.

“Traditionally, I think in the marketing world, people expect you to be using it for things like content creation or photoshopping certain things and all of that. Personally, I’m not there yet,” Staples said.

She said AI-generated material seems obviously created by a robot.

“So we’re very conscientious of that, especially in the marketing world when it comes to social media content creation or script writing for original content and things like that,” Staples said. “It feels very obvious that a robot is talking to you and not a human and I feel like it’s losing a human touch.”

Cheating and hallucinations

Recent AI technology is probably best known for its to do anything from write a term paper or newspaper article to create original images based on other images, depending on what a user asks.

Using it to cheat at school is one concern voiced by many.

Kim Pavlick, an associate professor in the communications and media department at the University of Scranton, has been delving into AI topics with her students for about three semesters.

“The way I approach it is that I explain to students that it’s like a calculator. We use a calculator for math now, but our parents’ generation freaked out that – how can you dare use a calculator for math? And now, people are freaking out about AI. It’s a tool. If you don’t know how to use the tool well, and you don’t know how to use the tool correctly, it’s not going to help you,” Pavlick said.

She also cautions students about “hallucinations,” the phenomenon in which an AI large language model (LLM) creates false information by perceiving patterns or objects that are nonexistent or imperceptible to human observers.

Pavlick said AI can’t replace humans who use critical thinking in their jobs.

“AI might not take may not take your job, but someone who knows how to leverage AI may take your job,” she said.

A spectrum of uses

AI also is being used for many other things in business other than just content creation. It can be found in everything from auto repair and sales to manufacturing to medicine.

“Our AI focus is on translating data science into clinical and operational practice,” David Vawdrey, chief data informatics officer at Geisinger, said in an email.

Vawdrey said Geisinger is exploring generative AI capabilities, but, because of risks and limitations associated with current AI tools such as misinformation, bias and privacy concerns, it’s essential to have human experts in the loop.

Like other healthcare systems, Geisinger will soon begin evaluating “ambient clinical documentation,” where with the patient’s permission, generative AI is used to compose a draft of the doctor’s notes during a clinic encounter.

“Doctors still have to review and edit the draft, but if the computer system can help reduce the paperwork burden, it will enable more time and attention for patients,” Vawdrey said.

Blue-collar bots?

David Centak, general manager of Subaru of Wyoming Valley in Plains Twp, said auto dealers can use AI chatbots to answer customers’ basic questions about autos for sale on a company’s website and create sales leads.

It can also be used in diagnostics for engines and other auto systems, although Subaru of Wyoming Valley doesn’t yet use AI for those purposes.

“But I’m almost certain it will be incorporated at some point in the future,” Centak said.

Kevin Jones, co-owner and CEO of transmedia company VizVibe, located in the Luzerne Bank Building in downtown Wilkes-Barre, said he’s using AI to assist with the company’s core focus – augmented reality for industrial solutions.

VizVibe creates computer programs that, for example, would allow supervisor to hand a tablet or smartphone to an assembly line worker who could view a piece of machinery on the screen using the camera, tap the screen displaying a part of the machinery, and then see text or video instructions overlayed on the screen on how to properly use or manipulate the component.

“We’re working with AI for image recognition of those parts, for quicker recognition for the overlays of the content that give instruction to troubleshooting, service, maintenance, and that sort of thing with the machines and the assembly lines in manufacturing,” Jones said.

“It keeps the production lines running quicker, it reduces downtime, it improves product flow, and that sort of thing,” he added. “And then on the flip side, the employees on the line could use AI to report trouble spots, and AI learns where the trouble spots are, what it is that’s breaking down, and it’ll allow preventative maintenance to happen faster”.

Jones said AI can also improves logistics production times because employers can use AI to generate reports right on the assembly line.

“It can say, hey, this is where there’s a juggernaut, or this is where things get held up. And then we can use the information, the data from the AI, along with the AR overlays, again, to increase productivity,” Jones said.

An historical companion

AI and AR is also being used in the travel and tourism industry, Jones said.

VizVibe created a smartphone app that people taking the Walkitecture historic tour of Wilkes-Barre can use to capture an image of an historic building. The app will use AI to pull up information about the building.

The app can be further developed using AI to recognize questions about a building or person spoken into the smartphone and then display prerecorded videos of a period actor or historian addressing the question directly.

Like Pavlick, Jones views AI as a tool.

“In the long run, in the industry side of things, it’s probably going to replace people’s jobs, because it’s going to make manufacturing and production and those things a lot more streamlined,” Jones said. “But the jobs that are going to remain are going to be higher-paying jobs and more-refined jobs. So, I guess, in that aspect, it’s a double-edged sword.” – The Citizens' Voice/Tribune News Service
AI,Technology
Artificial intelligence, or AI, is changing the way businesses operate, and its use is expected to only become more prevalent in the future.