How to Implement AI as a Startup: a Beginner’s Guide
On November 30, 2022, the world changed forever. It’s the day OpenAI launched ChatGPT. Since then, a true AI revolution has started. Many tools have been launched, some useful, some not.
But one thing’s for sure: AI is here to stay. If you’re not implementing AI in your startup today, you’re missing out. AI boosts worker productivity at tech companies by 14%, on average.
It’s not too late, but it’s time to take action. In this article, we’ll talk about how you can implement AI as a startup, so your company is more productive starting tomorrow.
Assess Your Needs
The first step in successfully implementing AI into your startup is assessing your current situation. What’s working? And what’s holding you back? Try to figure out where your own leverage is – what makes your company unique – and focus on outsourcing everything that falls outside of that.
Efficiency is key, and AI can help. Look at your day-to-day operations:
Are there any repetitive tasks that, when you add it up, take a lot of your time each day?
Are the specific things that your team dread doing?
That’s where AI can make the real difference.
Write down all the things you think could potentially be automated by AI. From organizing emails, to customer outreach, to analyzing data, to creating social media graphics – the capabilities of AI are practically endless, as long as you are creative. So write it all down, and then move on to the next step…
How to Implement AI
It’s now time to start implementing. With a bit of research and a lot of creativity, you can find AI solutions to tackle just about anything on your list.
Let’s say one of the items on your list is answering customer emails. Tools like ChatGPT are perfect for this. They take the time it takes you to respond to emails down to just a few seconds. And you might still have to make some edits every now and then, but the tools have gotten so good that they can generate top-quality responses. Automated emails are already one of the top two AI use cases used in business.
What if you want to be up to speed on everything that happened on the markets in just a few minutes every morning? Microsoft’s Bing AI can help you do that. It’s a chatbot that’s connected to the internet.
But there’s also the more complex stuff. And that’s where Zapier comes in! With Zapier, you can connect all your apps to AI and automate workflows with just a few clicks. Do you automatically want to format any new data that comes in? This Zap helps you do that. Need to generate a lot of custom code? Check out this tutorial to see how AI can help you with that.
Examples of How AI Is Implemented in Startups Today
35% of global companies already use AI today. And approximately half of all businesses plan to implement it in the near future.
Let’s take a look at some examples of how AI is implemented in startups today.
Customer Service
Startups are using AI to improve their customer service. What this means is that they're using AI to help them handle things like answering customer emails and figuring out solutions to problems. It saves time and makes things easier for both the business and the customers. 63% of retailers are already using AI to improve how they interact with customers.
There are a variety of companies that offer AI customer service solutions, but you can also set up your own custom system. If you combine tools like ChatGPT and Zapier, you can set things up just how you want them.
Brainstorming
Lots of startups also use AI for brainstorming. ChatGPT can serve as an idea machine. You can ask it all sorts of questions, and it will provide you with ideas.
If you’re trying to figure out what to post on social media, just ask ChatGPT for suggestions. If you’re trying to come up with a slogan for an event your startup is hosting, ChatGPT might have some good ideas. If you’re trying to make a specific task’s workflow more efficient, just ask ChatGPT what’s the best way to do it.
Data Analysis
Data analysis and organization are also great use cases of AI for startups. Startups often deal with a lot of data, and it can sometimes be overwhelming to organize it all, and even worse to use it effectively. Whether in analyzing customer behavior patterns or market trends, AI tools can do a lot when it comes to data management. They can go through the data, identify insights, and help your startup make educated decisions.
Key Takeaways
Let’s recap:
First, assess your startup's needs and identify areas for improvement.
Then, do research and be creative in coming up with aI solutions.
AI already helps startups with a bunch of things, such as answering emails, brainstorming, and data analysis.
When it comes to AI, it’s now or never. Hop on the train or miss the boat. With this knowledge in mind, you can now start optimizing your startup with AI. Good luck!
