Summit to help business owners adapt to growing AI technology

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Local business owners will have the opportunity to learn more about artificial intelligence (its advantages, pitfalls, and many applications) at the AI ​​summit announced by InvestStratford next week.

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Featuring Camp Tech founder Avery Swartz, the event teaches participants how to use AI for its best possible potential. For example, using ChatGpt to book dinners, says Joani Gerber, CEO of Investtatford.

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“Not only does Outlook have a copilot, it helps to frame my emails in a better way, but what tools can I use to improve communication with my team and create better standard operating procedures that are much more efficient depending on the work we are doing?” Geber said.

Learning about AI will help small business owners preempt the curve and prepare better, like many retailers who had to quickly develop e-commerce platforms when the Covid-19 pandemic hit in spring 2020, rather than scrambling to catch up, Gerber pointed out.

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“For our restaurant (and) retailers, that may not mean they need to understand today, but if they don't understand that tomorrow, they could be at risk,” she said.

The summit will help business owners gain practical skills and insight into how to adapt AI to their business models, but it will also help people address some of the concerns and challenges people generally face with AI, Swartz said.

“We wanted to be really, really practical and let everyone walk in a handful of takeaways that are actually viable,” said Swartz, who is also co-lead with AI Skills Lab Canada.

AI has actually existed for decades, and the term artificial intelligence was first coined in the 1950s, but what's different now is the development of more commonly used generator AI, explained Swartz. This offers a unique opportunity for small businesses to level the arena, she added.

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“Generative AI tools can be used to make you more competitive with large businesses. There's a lot of data to show that using generator AI tools saves time,” she said.

But that doesn't mean people just “get a ChatGpt account and then start making the pigs wild.”

“You need to learn how to use these tools in an ethical and thoughtful way, and you need to make sure you follow regulations, laws and copyrights to protect your business,” added Swartz.

Swartz will also be featured in the AI ​​overview. Why they often present the wrong information and what to do about it. That includes the important lesson that just because the robot says it is, it doesn't assume something is right, Swartz said.

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“If the robot assumes it's right because it said it's right, it can give you a moment of reputational damage and no one wants it in their business,” Swartz said.

The summit will also include a panel discussion with local business owners who have already adapted AI to their work. The panel, moderated by Geber, includes co-founder and CDO of Overlap Associates, account executive at ORR Insurance, and Shelley Windsor of Windsor Hospitality.

For business and restaurant owners, AI can understand customer behavior and answer more customer drawing questions, Geber said.

“I wonder if this will buy someone a sweater in my store,” Geber said, “I wonder if this will make people know my store better and that's why they'll buy that sweater for it.” ”

Stratford AI Summit: Real Skills. Real people. Real World AI is set from 9am to 3pm on September 29th. Tickets are $100 each and can be purchased at eventbrite.ca.

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