"An AI is currently trying to wipe out all of humanity."

"Deployment of AI stirs fears for around 300 million jobs."

"Will AI bring about the end of humanity? Oxford study delivers a grim answer."

Headlines like these should be familiar to everyone by now. But is the fear justified? Will artificial intelligence make our jobs obsolete? Definitely not, but it will change, accelerate, and - if we embrace it - improve our results, products, and processes. One thing is clear: It is happening fast. Generative AI and its applications are hitting the market under enormous competitive pressure and are being widely used. In 2023 alone, a plethora of new tools and co-pilots have been introduced. For coders, a co-pilot is already commonplace.

Generative Pre-Trained Transformer - or GPT for short - already aptly describes what lies behind the much-cited miracle tool: A vast, truly unbelievably large database of texts, chat transcripts, and knowledge from which answers are generated individually. How it works is best tried out by everyone themselves: Start here. I am convinced this Large Language Model (or LLM) will accompany you just as it does me: For research, brainstorming as personal assistance or - with the interfaces of the paid version - as part of your applications.

If you enjoy reading: Here you'll find the technical report. On page 84, there are examples of prompts that can be considered 'harmful'. In the published version, these 'dangerous' responses are prevented by editorial rules.

When AI becomes a topic, I am reminded of the time when the internet entered households and indeed every last business. And it's likely that something similar will happen: Work processes will change - some barely, some radically. And if done right, productivity will increase - for some hardly, for others radically.

The application scope of the beautiful new AI tools is not limited to text: Images and videos are being fed into the databases of Midjourney, Dall-E, and Runway. Text to audio, avatars, fonts, and also process and project planning can be supported by AI. The list could be virtually endless. A future where I only deal with bots as a customer is rather off-putting. A future where I can automatically create tasks, tickets and projects from an email request does appeal to me.

For those who can't wait to finally 'prompt' and use AI tools after reading this article, you can go ahead. As mentioned before, everyone should spend at least fifteen minutes with ChatGPT. Those who want to start with graphic editing should definitely take a look at Canva: Here, AI tools are gradually being released and made accessible to users. And if you're already using Adobe, you can either download the beta version of Photoshop or activate the beta filters. These features will sustainably change image editing.

And even if motivation is still lacking: Google and Microsoft have already announced that Workspace and Office will be equipped with AI assistance. Generated texts and images will quickly become a part of everyday life for all of us.

Discover the future of work support with Microsoft 365 Copilot! In this video you'll get an exciting insight into the innovative world of Microsoft's latest tool, aiming to revolutionize your productivity. Dive into a world where technology and efficiency go hand in hand, and find out how Copilot can ease your daily work life.

A technology revolution naturally also leads to a series of as yet unresolved legal questions. Class-action lawsuits in the USA are already underway, the Drake-The Weeknd song, which was artificially generated, was quickly removed from music platforms. Anyone looking to be safe will meanwhile have no choice but to read the User Licence Agreements: Midjourney, for example, promises copyright for generated images from the Pro Plan. Adobe promises to feed the AI only with stock photos and compensate the original creators to prevent future copyright issues.

The EU's AI Act will likely also be supplemented with rules for generative AI. At least in certain areas, it will be legally binding to disclose that an AI is involved - mainly to prevent users or customers from being deceived. A retrospective look at legal regulations related to the advent of the internet, however, suggests that we must expect a range of delayed and partially misguided laws and regulations again.
Care should be taken with feeding AI applications with data: Just like with other cloud services, it should always be legally clear what happens to the data before personal data is uploaded and processed. Data protection should take precedence in case of doubt.

Michael Bauer has been Key Account Manager at ACC Agency for Creative Communication since April 2023 and is available via michael.bauer@acc.cc. This post reflects his personal opinion.

• Generative Artificial Intelligence: A form of artificial intelligence capable of generating new content such as texts, images, or videos that resemble those it was trained on.
• Prompt: A text fragment, instruction, or question used to elicit a response, answer, or general information from an AI or user.
• Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (GPT): A machine learning model based on the Transformer architecture and pre-trained with a large amount of text data. GPT can be used to automatically generate texts.
• Large Language Model (LLM): A powerful machine learning model specializing in generating human-like texts and usable as an assistant across various tasks.
• Text-to-Image Generator: A tool or technology using text descriptions to automatically create images or visual content.
• Editorial Rules: Guidelines or standards applied when using AI tools or models to prevent undesirable or problematic results, e.g., by restricting potentially harmful responses or contents.
• Bots: Software programs or virtual assistants developed with artificial intelligence to automate specific tasks or support user interactions.
• Text-to-Audio: A process where text is converted into audio output, usually through the use of speech synthesis or text-to-speech technologies.
• Avatars: Graphical representations or virtual figures representing a person or depicting a specific character, often in the form of animated images or 3D models.
• Apocalypse: What awaits us due to climate change and not because of ChatGPT.