What's going on:  If we look at how technological change occurs, it's often the original breakthrough mixed with other technologies that allows us to make an exponential leap forward. I think it'll be the same with Chat GPT and the other Large Language Models we're seeing proliferate.

By itself, already an incredibly useful tool but now they are being integrated with the tools we use every day. Within a week of each other both Microsoft and Google announced AI updates to their software.

HubSpot also has announced ChatSpot.ai which will plug into all your CRM and Sales data and use that data with similar effect.

A few examples of the possibilities:

  • Get a summary or transcript of the last meeting you couldn't make. Ask why key decisions were made.
  • Starting a blank presentation? Just ask it to draft a presentation based off your sales meeting notes and use a similar template to the one you did for X client.
  • Looking at a hundred unread emails? Ask Chat to filter out the junk, summarise all the important emails and draft replies to the ones that need responding to!

How will this impact us: The way that we use our digital tools is going through a huge update. Up till now, we use the mouse, keyboard and occasionally voice to give explicit directions to our software.

Take Excel as an example. In order to use Excel, there are a couple steps. We need to learn what Excel can do, the appropriate times to use it and then how to use it.

A lot of that learning will soon become unnecessary. Imagine that instead, we have a basic grasp that Excel is great for sorting and graphing data. But everytime we need to use it, we can instead ask Chat to do it for us.

"Hey Chat, Bob sent me this data set and I need a couple graphs showing trends over time, can you show me a few examples?"

"Hey Chat, what do you think the data is showing? Why?

"Hey Chat, is Excel the best way to show this? Or should I move this over to PowerPoint?

Kim's thoughts: For myself, the biggest change coming down the road is to understand that the way we interact with our computers now is not the way that we're going to interact with them in the near future.

To make the most of the new technologies coming out, we need to reset our mental models of computers and digital devices. And the difference is huge. Here is how I see it using a terrible metaphor.

Imagine that previously, you could only ever build things yourself. Whether it was a new house or a new chair. You HAD to do it yourself. And because you had to do it, you learnt and you can do it.

But now, this builder comes along and says "Hey, I can do all that building for you. You just tell me what you need."

And you think "Well I'm not quite sure how to tell you, I've only ever done it all myself for my entire life". 

I believe that's the stage we're at now. All these new tools are coming into play with potentially huge gains to productivity and we're just beginning to learn how to use them. But in a couple years? Who knows.

About the author
With over 15 years of experience in search and digital marketing, Kim is the founder of Insight Online. Kim started Insight as he saw an opportunity to build a digital agency that focuses on business results and strong working relationships with clients.