Once upon a time, I was thinking about how to market myself a little more.
A lot of professionals have opted to integrate AI into their small businesses.
Do I worry that I won’t be able to compete with AI?
No. Never.
I’ve called businesses with AI-powered reception and hung up. By the time I work up the desire to call back and tackle another conversation with TRON or HAL, I often no longer need the service I originally called about.
As a Gen X being, I have learned that perhaps the best advice we can give younger generations is:
Learn to fight the robots.
Will it stop AI from taking jobs from people? Absolutely not.
Will I sleep better at night? Yes.
The truth is, I have a love-hate relationship with AI. I’ve worked on contracts involving the development of AI systems, essentially helping make it better at doing some of the very things I do.
Shooting myself in the foot? Probably.
But as a kid who jumped the bodies of friends on a banana-seat bicycle without a helmet, (or attempted at least!)
I’m ready for the next challenge.
AI has its place. I’ve helped develop it. (Keep friends close and enemies closer?) But knowing how useful a tool can be also means knowing when it probably shouldn’t be the thing standing between a business and its customer.
That’s also why I pair well with businesses that want to keep the human in a human position.
AI lacks human connection.
Say Tony owns a small auto shop and needs help returning the calls he missed while working all day.
I can tell a caller, “I’m helping Tony today. Tell me what’s going on, and I’ll talk with him and get back to you.”
Maybe another shop told that customer they need a transmission rebuild—something Tony’s shop doesn’t normally do. Instead of simply saying, “Sorry, we don’t offer that,” I can listen, explain what Tony’s shop does handle, and check with him.
Tony may decide the car is worth diagnosing first. Maybe the transmission isn’t actually the problem.
That human conversation could save someone thousands of dollars—and gain Tony a customer.
That’s the difference.
Sometimes the answer isn’t simply yes or no. Sometimes it’s, “Let me talk to the owner and see how we can help.”
And then there’s the veterinary world.
Someone calling—or texting because talking hurts too much—about saying goodbye to a beloved pet probably isn’t going to respond particularly well to a cheerful AI system enthusiastically answering questions about the “youth in Asia.”
There are moments when efficiency matters. There are other moments when humanity matters more.
So no, I’m not worried about competing with AI. I’m ready to provide the human connection. I’m not perfect, but I understand the assignment.
And I’d really hate to hear about a youth in Asia getting stuck in a cheerful AI loop.
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