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So far this year 122,900 layoffs have been announced that are linked to Artificial intelligence with that number expected to mushroom into the millions over the coming decade. Sometimes it feels like every news article about Artificial Intelligence is warning us of the impending job-loss apocalypse and the dangers of AI. Although there are no doubt some risks associated with the rapid rise of these new technologies, it can pay to take stock of what is actually happening in the economy. Here we track layoff announcements related to AI and you will clearly notice some common themes: automation and cost-cutting are the primary drivers of job losses due to AI in 2023. McKinsey - 2,000 jobs Announced February 2023 McKinsey & Company is one of the top, if not the top name, in management consultancy, but they are not immune from rising cost pressures. Their announcement comes as part of Project Magnolia, a program to preserve the compensation of the firm's partners, as reported by Reuters. Although AI was not directly referenced, the language included the usual related terms. The losses will center on support staff, an ability to scale operations, and "redesigning the way our non-client-serving teams operate". Meta - 10,000 jobs (Facebook) Announced March 2023 As part of a wider post-pandemic trend among the tech darlings, Meta engaged in significant layoffs in 2023 and started things off with an announcement in March that 10,000 roles would go. Again, there was no explicit mention of AI in the announcement but the company has talked about flattening its management structure and increasing automation. Accenture - 19,000 jobs Announced March 2023 The mammoth Irish consultancy firm plans to trim its staffing numbers by 2.5% or roughly 19,000 over the next 18 months. More than half the layoffs will be in back-office functions with industry experts expecting, once again, that automation will be a primary driver. In their report to The SEC, Accenture stated its goal was to "transform our non-billable corporate functions to reduce costs.” Reading between the lines, this transformation could include a lot of AI software. Amazon - 27,000 jobs Announced March 2023 Another of the tech giants went on a cost-cutting drive in 2023 when Amazon announced a plan to cut 27,000 jobs, predominantly in advertising and related fields. Similar to Meta they did not actually attribute any of the job cuts to AI - but reading between the lines of automation and cost-cutting it seems a safe bet that AI played a part. Vodafone - 11,000 jobs Announced May 2023 The European telecoms giant will replace 10% of its workforce through automation as part of aggressive cost-cutting measures. Although they did not explicitly reference Artificial Intelligence it's widely believed to be a key driver. Vodafone has deployed an AI customer care agent, TOBi, in an effort to become “as lean as possible” freeing up hundreds of millions of euros for marketing and customer experience. IBM - 7,800 jobs Announced May 2023 The technology giant announced in May 2023 that up to 30% of its workforce could be replaced by AI with immediate plans to pause all hiring. CEO Arvind Krishna said the company plans to replace 7,800 back-office jobs with AI over the next few years, starting with HR. BT - 10,000 jobs Announced May 2023 The British telecoms behemoth announced that 55,000 jobs would be cut by the end of the decade due to cost-cutting and automation. The announcement heavily focused on AI, with CEO Philip Jansen going as far as saying, “We will be a beneficiary of AI unequivocally because we are a volume business.” That being said, only 10,000 of the 55K job losses were directly attributed to AI. Once again the focus of AI job losses would be on customer support and back-office functions. Unsurprisingly, Jansen is a big fan of BT's customer service chatbots. “Does everyone know it’s a chatbot? Of course they don’t.” Miscellaneous - 3,900 jobs Announced May 2023 The highly regarded Challenger Report recorded almost 4,000 job losses in May of 2023. Although the report does not name specific companies it does mention record-breaking layoffs in the media industry with news organizations particularly impacted. This is the first time Artificial Intelligence has been noted as a cause of job losses in this report. Bild - 200 jobs Announced June 2023 Written media is widely considered to be one of the industries most vulnerable to artificial intelligence, and generative AI in particular. With the explosion of tools like ChatGPT the German publisher Bild announced 200 redundancies along with a promise to make more cuts on the back of “the opportunities of artificial intelligence”. Staff of the newspaper were told, “unfortunately be parting ways with colleagues who have tasks that in the digital world are performed by AI and/or automated processes”. US Advertisers - 32,000 jobs (via Forrester) Announced June 2023 Up to 7.5% of jobs in American advertising agencies will disappear by 2030 according to leading research firm Forrester . This equates to 32,000 redundancies over the next seven years. Once again, automation is a big driver here with "problem-solving" jobs expected to remain untouched or even thrive as AI improves our ability to gather and analyze data. The Global Economy - 300 million jobs Predicted by Goldman Sachs March 2023 Leading investment bank GS expects that artificial intelligence and generative AI in particular could cost The US and Europe up to 300 million jobs over the coming years. They are not specific on timelines but the headline number of 300,000,000 jobs is still eye-catching. This is a staggering number and admittedly their published report is light on details and heavy on assumptions but even if they are remotely right this is a worry. Hollywood - an unknown number of jobs Part of the ongoing writers' strike. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) which represents 11,500 Hollywood writers went on strike on May 2, 2023, and at the time of writing is still ongoing. One of the key concerns is the potential use of artificial intelligence to replace writers. This feels like the first step in a protracted battle for jobs in creative writing roles and we will of course monitor the situation closely. Wimbledon Tennis - an unknown number of jobs No-job AI services from The All England Club & IBM The live nature of sports broadcasting has traditionally insulated it from media cutbacks but this year The All England Club is testing a new AI-powered commentary service using IBM's watsonx software. This will give text commentary and captions in the “unique language of tennis” during the Wimbledon tennis tournament. There is no direct link between this particular product and job losses but the direction within the industry is abundantly clear. The Impact of AI on Jobs Losses in 2023 The impact of AI on the jobs market in 2023 has been almost entirely centered on automation and cost-cutting. This should be no surprise. The cost of living crisis is driving wage inflation, which along with rising interest rates is putting companies under significant pressure to slash expenses. The aggressive adoption of AI tools that reduce headcount will be the early, and dare I say obvious, use case of AI in business. However, some more nimble organizations will look at how AI can offer new services, and not simply automate old ones. We continuously track press releases and announcements so follow us on Twitter or subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on everything AI.

Should I Start an AI Automation Agency? Does the idea of starting an AI Automation Agency (AAA) excite you? If the answer is yes, then an AAA could be your next big entrepreneurial leap. But before you make the jump, let's explore what starting an AAA really involves and how it differs from the traditional 'agency' business model blueprint. When we hear 'agency', images of digital or social media marketing often surface, along with other online businesses like dropshipping and Amazon FBA. However, when you start an AI Automation Agency, you're stepping into a more complex space, where complexity amplifies as your agency matures. AAA vs Dropshipping: Navigating the Learning Curve To show this complexity difference, let's compare a dropshipping business and an AAA, both six months into operation. After six months of successful dropshipping, your operations are down pat: reliable suppliers, profitable products, and established marketing channels . Sure, there's room for innovation and expansion, but the core mechanics of your business remain relatively static. Conversely, in an AAA, you're still scaling a steep learning curve six months in. You've deployed a chatbot, rolled it out across several customers, and referrals are flowing in. It's a promising start, but now your clients are inquiring, " What else can you automate with AI? " Addressing this request, you have two choices: Continue only offering your existing chatbot. Venture into unexplored terrain, conceiving and implementing new AI solutions. Beyond the Novice Attraction: Evolving from Chatbots One of the reasons aspiring entrepreneurs are drawn to start an AI Automation Agency is the initial simplicity of creating a basic chatbot . As of July 2023, few people can deploy robust, ready-for-market chatbots for SMEs. However, the industry's dynamics are changing rapidly. We're already witnessing an influx of new entrants offering chatbot services, evident from the number of YouTube tutorials on "how to build your own AI chatbot". So, how can you safeguard your AAA amidst this increasing competition? The answer lies in evolution. Identify fresh pain points, bottlenecks, or business challenges and develop AI-powered solutions to address them. You must surpass the initial chatbot phase and tap into the vast potential of AI to address business pain points and challenges. Unlocking AAA Potential: Capitalizing on Complexity Many who start an AI Automation Agency will achieve initial success with their chatbots, which is a major positive. But as AI services become more commonplace, demand for these standard chatbots will decline. The forward-thinking AAA owners, however, will adapt and innovate, turning complexity into their competitive advantage. The potential profitability of an AAA is directly linked to the complexity of the solutions you offer. If you only provide a basic chatbot — the same model every other AAA owner has learned to create on YouTube — your profits will plateau. But if you engage with business owners, decode their challenges, and devise unique AI solutions, you're setting the stage for success in a high-demand, low-competition environment. This environment will get us close to the holy grail of business, a blue ocean. Embracing Uncertainty: Beyond Structured Learning If you need a course or a detailed guide to start an AAA, the answer to "Should I Start an AI Automation Agency?" will be no. Successful AAAs in 12 months will not only be offering chatbots they learned to build on YouTube to clients. They may have started with that, but they will have quickly expanded into more complex and, as a result, more profitable areas where there is no guide or videos to follow. AI tools and technology, especially their application to SMEs, are new. As such, there is little material to refer to in terms of courses, books and guidance. Those who rely on courses or copy-and-paste solutions will offer the same limited number of solutions as others who use the same material. Their AAA will fail. The successful AAAs will transform business tasks , processes and operations using novel AI approaches and will get handsomely rewarded. In Conclusion When you start an AI Automation Agency, you're signing up for a journey very different from running an SMMA dropshipping or Amazon FBA business, where a course gets you started and surviving the first six months is the major hurdle. AAAs present a continuous learning journey — there's no definitive course to ensure long-term success, and that's what makes it a compelling opportunity ! So, if you're driven, ready to delve into the intricacies of AI, eager to innovate and not deterred by complexity, the potential for you and your AAA is potentially limitless!

I wrote in two previous posts about what AI Automation Agencies (AAA) are and if you should start one. As AAA content has grown exponentially on YouTube and social media in the last few weeks, many are asking a valid question off the back of this - "Are AI Automation Agencies a Scam" or potentially a fad? I will answer this question by discussing three main points: 1) The business of what a genuine AAA should do is not a scam. 2) The spike in AAA content on YouTube and other social media is fad-like. 3) The accuracy of this AAA content and the AI knowledge of its creators needs questioning What a Genuine AAA Does The attention AI and its potential for automating business tasks & processes has garnered since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022 has been immense. But does the data back up this attention being warranted? Are the potential benefits and efficiencies businesses can gain from adapting AI legitimate? The infographic below is from the investment research firm MSCI. It shows the percentage share of tasks/processes in different US industries that AI could automate . A key point to note is the use of the word "tasks". When it states that 44% of the legal industry is exposed to AI, it does not mean 44% of lawyers, legal clerks etc., will be gone. It means 44% of the tasks they do today could be automated using AI: Imagine you are an AAA who has a client in the legal industry with ten staff. Your agency succeeded in automating 44% of the tasks using AI that MSCI said could be automated in legal firms. Does this mean the firm will lay off 4 of its ten staff ? They certainly have that option. But they could also use the additional 44% of the day you have created for them positively. They could spend more time doing research to win their cases, more time providing expert advice to their clients, and more time soliciting additional business for the firm. This time saving is why the services AAAs will offer are in demand and will continue to be in demand. Any work task that has a "process document" or "procedure document" for a human to follow mindlessly is ripe for AI to automate. Tasks that make people feel like an automaton at work will be done by a legitimate automaton, freeing humans up to focus on the more "human" task, providing real value to their business and employees. But the question arises: how has this revolution in task automation been translated and communicated in popular media? The Fad-like Spike in AAA Content on YouTube As we transition our discussion to explore the recent surge in AAA content on YouTube and other social media platforms, it's crucial to understand the discrepancy between the real business value of what an AAA can add and the rise in the use of buzzwords and trendy phrases, like AAA itself, that can overshadow the legitimate value a business in this field will provide. The use of AI in business is not new. McKinsey published a report this year that shows 50% of larger firms already use AI in at least one of their business units or functions. So the idea that an AAA is some new type of "business model" is false: What is new is the use of the term " AI Automation Agency ". AAA is a catchy name and well suited to the YouTube and social media audience used to bro marketers pushing "agencies" in areas like digital marketing and social media marketing - SMMAs. The firms currently performing automation services for businesses don't style themselves AAAs, but the services they offer are the same ones the "new" AAA business model pushes. So the only thing new about AAAs is the packaging and social media marketing behind them. While the packaging and presentation of AAAs as a 'new' model might contribute to the current social media frenzy, another factor we must address is content creators' credibility, or lack thereof, in this space. Let's delve deeper into this concern. Accuracy of AAA Content and the Knowledge of its Creators The actual "scam" in AAAs is people publishing content about creating and running AAAs who know little about AI or the application of AI to automate business processes. An easy tell is to look at the history of someone posting AAA content and see if any of the below are true: Have they previously posted content about NFTs, cryptos, SMMA, dropshipping, Amazon FBA etc.? When did they start posting about AI? Was it only after the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022? Do they mix AAA with other "agency models" like SMMA, affiliate marketing, digital marketing etc? 80%+ of AAA content on YouTube and social media is made to generate views on social media platforms. It is clickbait. Those creating the content are simply jumping on AAA to get clicks. These content creators have no experience in applying AI to automate business processes. Much of the content mentions AAA along with agency models like SMMA, affiliate marketing, digital marketing etc., which are popular topics on YouTube. These videos discuss the merits of starting an AAA agency versus an SMMA agency. As mentioned in a previous post, the complexity of what an AAA does amplifies as the business matures. This complexity contrasts with an SMMA-style business, where the core mechanics of your business remain relatively static after an initial learning period of about six months post your first sale. As a result of the above, these two "models" will be attractive to two completely different types of people. The idea of making a comparison between the two is, therefore, pointless. So someone comparing them on social media either a) lack the knowledge to understand these differences or b) understands the differences, but their actual goal is social media exposure, not providing accurate and helpful content. Neither is someone you want to take advice from on starting an AAA. In Conclusion The services and the core idea behind running an AAA is not a scam . The data suggests it will be lucrative over the following years as more firms, particularly small and medium-sized firms, adopt AI to automate and augment their processes and business. While 80%+ of AAA content on social media is produced for clicks rather than as sound business advice, there will be a market for high-quality content that addresses and discusses the reality of what an AAA should actually do and what it takes to run such a business. We expect the volume of AAA content to continue to spike in 2023. However, it will taper off as the realities of starting an increasingly complex business become apparent to those looking to make easy money by jumping on the latest fad early.

There is a growing amount of videos, articles and posts online discussing AI Automation Agency (AAA) niches and asking, "What is the best niche for AAAs?". However, there is a fundamental difference between niches for AAAs and niches in the traditional business sense that you MUST understand. A lot of the AAA material posted online fails to discuss or explain this difference, overlooking the intricate mechanics of the AI tools, models, and data that an AAA utilizes. In this article, I will explain a "niche" for an AAA and show how it differs from a traditional niche. Let's start by looking at what a niche means in the traditional business sense. Traditional Business Niches A traditional 'niche' generally refers to a business catering to a specific subset of consumers who share certain characteristics and are likely to buy a particular product or service. A niche comprises small, highly specific groups within a broader target market you may be trying to reach. A hotel, for example, might specialize in luxury experiences for high-income couples (no children allowed). Or a personal trainer may cater to women above the age of 40. Both businesses focus their offerings on a narrowly defined market or niche. AI Automation Agency Niches It might seem natural to think a niche for an AAA would be similarly specific - where you should focus on AI products & services for hotels or AI products & services for personal trainers. However, this is wrong, and it is one area where AAAs differ significantly from traditional businesses. For an AAA, the niche isn't defined by the industry in which the technology is deployed. Instead, an AAA's niche is tied to the specific AI product or service it offers and the particular problem this offering solves. Consider the example of creating AI chatbots for answering customer service queries. These chatbots can be 'taught' to understand and answer questions about any subject, whether it's hotel facilities, personal training plans, or anything else that can be captured in text. In doing so, they solve the problem of humans being required to answer these often repetitive and time-consuming questions. In this example, an AAA's niche isn't the hotel or personal training industry; it's solving the problem of handling customer inquiries across any business sector. So, while a 'niche' in a traditional business focuses on a segment of consumers who share similar characteristics, in an AAA, it focuses on a specific product/service that solves a particular problem or pain point a business has. Let's look at an example below of an AAA that created a luxury hotel chatbot. I will demonstrate how the niche, in this case, is chatbots rather than luxury hotels. Example Case - A Chatbot Built for a Luxury Hotel Imagine you run an AAA and have just created and rolled out a chatbot for a luxury hotel . The chatbot has been trained to understand and respond to various hotel-related queries, from room availability and rates to restaurant dining options and check-in procedures. Clients can access the chatbot via the hotel's website or by message on the hotel's Whatsapp, Facebook or Telegram. Importantly, to the chatbot , it perceives the hotel information it was trained on merely as 'data'. The chatbot doesn't understand or care about the content of the data, whether it's about room availability, restaurant dining options, personal training, or any other subject. It is programmed, using machine learning, Natural Language Processing (NLP) and complex AI algorithms, to analyze and respond to the data it is trained on, regardless of what it represents. Deep Industry Knowledge Isn't Crucial for AAAs Interestingly, the AAA owner or the AAA employees who created the chatbot are not concerned with the specifics of the hotel's data either. They only care about how the AI chatbot processes and interacts with that data. For the AAA, this data merely serves as the raw material to train the chatbot. Whereas a business owner in a traditional niche needs to have in-depth knowledge of their specific sector, a luxury hotel in this example, an AAA's expertise lies in the AI technology itself. The subject matter of the data their AI technology deals with is secondary. The AAA team that built the chatbot might not be well-versed in the intricacies of the luxury hotel industry, but that's irrelevant to their work. They are experts at creating AI chatbots that can answer customer queries automatically without any humans being needed. This AI expertise is why the hotel bought their product, not because of their knowledge of the luxury hotel market. A Personal Recommendation Suppose the chatbot has been successful and well-received by the hotel owner and staff. It operates round the clock, quickly responding to guests' questions. It has improved customer service while reducing the number of repetitive questions staff must answer. Using the chatbot has resulted in higher customer satisfaction and a happier, more engaged team. As a result, the hotel owner has recommended the AAA to a friend who runs a personal training company for women over 40. The owner of the personal training company has a problem, as many different clients repeatedly ask the same few questions to his trainers. He thinks a chatbot trained with the data needed to answer these repetitive questions could solve his problem and save his trainers a considerable amount of time. The AAA's Real Niche: Problem-Solving Capabilities A traditional firm would niche down and either understand the market for luxury hotels or the market for personal trainers with female clients over 40. An AAA can serve both clients without having a deep understanding of either. For the AAA who created the chatbot for the hotel, the same chatbot can be repurposed with ease for the personal training company. The hotel data the chatbot was trained on is replaced with data relevant to personal training. Once the chatbot has analyzed this new personal training data, it can answer questions about exercise routines, nutrition advice, or appointment schedules as effectively as it did for hotel-related queries. The versatility of AI chatbot technology, applicable across various industries, underscores an AAA's actual 'niche': the unique systems, processes or workflows it employs and the broad spectrum of issues its products or services can address across different sectors. What's the takeaway for AAA owners Shift your focus to the issues and pain points your AI can solve for clients instead of getting wrapped up in their specific industries or demographics. Suppose you create a product or service around systems, processes and workflows that solve a company's problems. In that case, it can then be sold to other companies experiencing the same problem, regardless of their industry.

As AI Automation Agencies (AAAs) are a brand new concept, there is little content of value available on starting and running an AAA . In particular, there needs to be more content on how to identify potential clients, approach potential clients, and what products and services the clients of AI Automation Agencies demand. As we discussed in a previous article, while the use of the term AAA is new, the actual business model behind AAA is not. With the explosion of interest in AI since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, several surveys and studies have been conducted among businesses on AI and its use by companies. In this article, we are going to deep dive into two recent surveys that ask small business owners about their use of AI and what they could use AI for in their business. So for those looking to start and grow an AAA, data on what products and services clients want is already available! It does not have the name "AAA" in it, but that does not impact the insights we can glean from it. Please continue reading below for our breakdown and analysis of these two AAA-related surveys' main points of interest. GoDaddy Survey of U.S. Small Businesses on Generative AI - April 2023 In April 2023, GoDaddy surveyed more than 1,000 small business owners in the U.S. to gauge their awareness and perceptions of Generative AI. 98% of the businesses had fewer than 50 employees. Here are the highlights AAA owners need to know: Only 11% of the 1,000+ businesses surveyed have tried using Generative AI for their business: Of that 11%, 75% thought the Generative AI tool they used performed either "Very Well" or "Excellent". Only 4% thought it performed "Poorly". Of the 1,000+ small businesses, 57% are interested in using generative AI tools for their business. Aiifi's Key Takeaways from the GoDaddy Survey 57% of businesses want to use Generative AI tools, but only 11% have used them. This indicates a significant untapped market of businesses interested in Generative AI tools. AAAs who get in front of small businesses will have a very receptive audience for their AI product and service offerings. 3 out of every four who tried AI were very impressed Of the 11% who did try Generative AI tools, 75% thought they performed either "Very Well" or "Excellent". Only 4% thought it performed poorly. This highlights that the correct application of AI products and services by an AAA will likely result in very high client satisfaction. The demand from small businesses for AAA is there. Those who tried it are impressed, and those who have yet to are keen to start. They want to use AI as they know it can help their business, but they need to figure out how to apply it. For AAAs, the message is simple - go to a company interested in AI and apply AI effectively for them. They will likely be very impressed if you apply it correctly. Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Survey - May 2023 In May 2023, Intuit QuickBooks commissioned a survey of 1,000 U.S. small business owners with 0-200 employees asking about their plans for technology investments to drive growth: 32% of businesses want to use AI tools for analyzing customer trends and behaviours Demand for the automation of financial operations is vast. Even the smallest firms are planning to invest heavily in technology in 2023. Aiifi's Key Takeaways from the Intuit QuickBooks Survey Businesses want to analyze their customer trends and behaviours data 32% of the surveyed owners want to use AI tools for this reason. An AAA that expands beyond beginner solutions like chatbots and content generation into using machine learning to help clients glean new insights from the data they have about their customers will see huge demand for their services. The market for AAA products and services increases in tandem with the complexity of your offering. Massive market for automating operations, particularly in finance Nearly 7 out of 10 businesses want to automate their expense management and invoicing operations. The demand for automation is there. AAAs need to come up with solutions to satisfy this demand. Businesses are willing to pay for the technology 35% of owners said they lack time to complete important tasks. They do not have time to research and learn how to use AI tools. Even small businesses have the cash to invest in business technology. An AAA offering practical solutions that solve business problems will find a ready market of buyers for their services. In Conclusion These two surveys highlight three main things: More than 50% of small firms want to use Generative AI tools & services Well over 50% of firms would like to automate their finance operations Business owners have money allocated to spend on AI & technology The key point is that AAAs who embrace complexity to solve their client's business problems will be well rewarded. AAAs hoping to make some easy money with a copy-and-paste chatbot or selling second-hand ChatGPT prompts will only survive for a short time. Innovate, high-quality AI solutions are what the market is demanding.

Beginners are always asking for examples of AI Automation Agency Services that they can provide clients, so we decided to do precisely that. This article will walk you through a detailed example of an AAA service a beginner can provide to companies: Automated News Monitoring. This practical solution addresses a common pain point. I use an almost identical process to monitor news, so it is effective. Please note that this is a straightforward solution to a basic pain point many businesses have. Offering this service will not earn an AAA much if any, cash. However, it was a valuable solution for a client that can be applied to other prospects and clients, so we think it is worth showing as a "beginner" solution. Points to Note This example is a very basic AAA service that is easy to implement. No coding or complex knowledge is required for this solution. We aim to demonstrate how AI Automation Agencies approach and solve problems. If you can solve basic issues, companies will trust you to solve more complex problems. Companies may not even be aware that such a simple solution is available . Step 1 - Business Problem/Pain Point Below is a short background to this case study: Aiifi's client was a financial services company that had 20+ vendors/suppliers The vendor management team managed the relationships with the firm's suppliers The vendor management team had an ongoing task to monitor online news Checking for vendor risk-related news stories, such as compliance breaches, lawsuits, data security issues etc. This task was repetitive and boring for the person carrying it out They could spend their time doing more valuable work for the firm Because it is a manual check, there is also a risk the person may miss an important news story Step 2 - Aiifi's Analysis Aiifi was asked to review the news monitoring process and see if we could use AI to automate it. Our first task was to analyze the steps involved in the existing manual approach. By doing that, we could fully understand the process. Once we fully understood the process, we could identify where it may be possible to utilize an AI tool or workflow software to automate the process. Below are the steps a person on the vendor management team went through for this online news monitoring task: Old Manual News Monitoring Process: Open Google. Type in a vendor company name. Filter search results for recent news. Open news articles individually and read through them to assess their relevance. If an article is relevant, save the link for consolidation at the end. Repeat the process for each of the ten vendors. Consolidate the links and analyze the information gathered from the different news articles. Create an email, attach the relevant links and send the mail to the team. Repeat this entire process weekly. This was an easy problem for Aiifi to resolve. An off-the-shelf AI tool is available that can effectively replace the entire old manual approach on its own. The financial services company was not aware of this tool. As the team lacked time to investigate solutions, they welcomed Aiifi's implementation. Step 3 - Aiifi's Solution Feedly - AI-powered news aggregator Feedly is an AI-powered news aggregator application that automatically compiles news feeds from various online sources. Sources include news websites, trade publications, blogs, research journals, podcasts, newsletters, and YouTube videos. Users choose sources and organize them into feeds. Feeds are a way to organize the articles by topic, project, or industry. Feedly incorporates AI & machine learning into its platform through a feature called "Feedly AI". Users train Feedly AI by giving it insights about the subjects, trends, and sources that are relevant to them. The training helps Feedly AI understand patterns, refining its content curation over time to only show articles tailored to a user's preference in their feeds. Feedly allows articles to be saved from different feeds to a "Board" with one click. You can have a personal "Board" or add content to a "Team Board" to start creating libraries of must-read content for your team to view. Importantly for Aiifi and this problem, you can create team newsletters directly in Feedly. Feedly will automatically convert newly saved articles in a specified "Board" into a formatted newsletter. It will automatically send the newsletter on a set schedule to an email list saved by the user. Although we didn't utilize it in this case, Feedly's integration with Zapier enables connection with 700+ apps like Slack, WordPress, and Notion. Aiifi Implementation Aiifi did the below work for the vendor management team to implement the new process: Set up a Feedly account for the team members who required access for news monitoring. Created separate feeds for each vendor, using the vendor's name as the primary keyword. For each feed, Aiifi prioritized or deprioritized specific themes, topics, and sources relevant to that vendor. Aiifi reviewed the initial news articles Feedly curated on each feed. Aiifi provided feedback on each feed to Feedly AI by hitting the "Less Like This" button for articles that were not relevant. This signals to Feedly AI that it needs to adjust its model to omit similar articles from appearing in the future. This is called "training the model". Aiifi created a "Board" for each of the vendors. Aiifi created a "Team Newsletter" to be sent automatically at 07.00 Monday to Friday. It will include all articles newly saved to the "Boards" since the last email was sent. After the implementation, Aiifi trained the vendor management team to use Feedly. As Feedly is very user-friendly, training was done in a matter of hours. Below is the new monitoring process after Aiifi's implementation. Compare this with the "Old Manual News Monitoring Process" detailed earlier in the article to see the improvement. New News Monitoring Process Using Feedly Login to Feedly. Navigate to the vendor feeds. Review news articles: go through the articles curated by Feedly AI. Save relevant articles: Hit the "Save to Board" button to send important articles to that vendor's "Board". N:B: Remember the articles saved to the boards will be automatically emailed at 07.00 Monday to Friday. The employee no longer needs to save links and manually send an email. Results for Aiifi's Client The Aiifi-led transition to Feedly AI reduced the manual labor involved in monitoring vendor-related news by 95%. The new process was more accurate too. It ensured no relevant news stories were missed, as Feedly pulls from additional sources the employees had not looked at in their old, manual process. Employees were delighted as they no longer had to carry out the repetitive task of searching and filtering for news on Google, saving news story links and sending them in an email. The owner was happy as his employees were freed to spend more time on valuable work. Benefit to Aiifi While this is a straightforward solution, it solves a real pain point for a client . This process can now be used for any of our prospects or clients in the future, regardless of their industry. While we will not make much money from this (we will do it for free), the goodwill it generates and the additional business we will win more than offsets the cost of the time we spend doing it for "free". If you liked this article, you will be glad to hear that we plan to publish more similar articles. In the meantime, we recommend you read the following AI Automation Agency articles from our blog to grow your knowledge of this exciting area.

If, like me, you need to be on top of the latest news and insights in your area but find searching through Google and multiple other platforms tedious, Feedly will be right up your street. Feedly curates news and content from sources of your choosing based on your selected subjects. All of this is neatly presented in a centralized, user-friendly dashboard, eliminating the hassle of manual online search and filtering. Working at Aiifi, a platform dedicated to AI tools and their benefits for workers and business owners, I need to stay updated with the latest developments in the AI space. But with so much noise and nonsense being published in the media and posted online, it is time-consuming. I needed a system or process to ensure I saw only relevant stories that impacted Aiifi and its users. Based on my experience with it over the last few months, Feedly is the system AND the process. Aiifi Verdict If you are fed up wasting your time searching for news & stories on specific topics every day and having to filter through the noise, Feedly is for you. Pros Cons ​✅Huge range of news sources available ​❌Some sources require a subscription ​✅Train Feedly AI only to show stories that matter to you ​❌Enterprise account needed for Feedly newsletter creation ✅User interface is clean, letting you fully focus on the news, not the noise ​ ❌You need to pay for a Pro+ or Enterprise plan to access Feedly AI Why You Can Trust Aiifi Reviews All products we review we either use ourselves every day or spend hours analysing and testing. We have hands-on experience with every product. All product screenshots are originals taken by us during testing. Check out our accompanying video review to see us walking you through the product (you can't fake that!). Our AI tools directory showcases 200+ tools in 30+ categories. Researching, testing and reviewing these tools is "our thing", our area of expertise. We've extensively researched over 1,300 AI tools potentially suitable for business and professional use. Eighty per cent of these tools did not meet our strict standards and were not listed on Aiifi. We call that integrity. Who Is This For? If you need to stay on top of news or trends in your industry or area, Feedly is for you. Anyone who spends significant time online each week researching topics, markets, companies, people, products etc., will get great value from Feedly. However, if your online browsing is casual and lacks a specific intent or purpose, Feedly may not add much value for you. Key Features A single, organized, central hub for all your news and insights You specify to Feedly the sources and topics/keywords you want to curate news and insights from. You create "feeds" to organize the curated content into different subjects. Get hours of your life back by having Feedly do all the searching and curation for you. Train Feedly AI to only see the content that interests you Feedly uses machine learning algorithms to understand the topics you are interested in, not just the keywords. You can train Feedly to further refine the news and content you see by telling it what stories are of no interest to you. Feedly learns from patterns over time the content you do not like and will stop showing this content to you. Simple to tag/save content and share it with others Tagging stories in your feed will send them to a "Board". You can have personal boards or share them with your team. Using boards allows you to save the most interesting stories in your feed to refer back to later and easily share insights with your team—no more copy and pasting links or having to message them to teammates. Ease of Use Simple to set up new feeds To create a feed, you tell Feedly what topic, company, product or trend you are interested in tracking. You can further refine the content in that feed by adding additional parameters. If you have particular sources you want to pull content from, you can specify them too. Train the Feedly AI model so those feeds only show me relevant content Training Feedly's machine-learning algorithm requires only a single click. You hit the "Less Like This" button for any content in your feed that is irrelevant. Feedly gives you several options to describe why you want to see less content like that. It will incorporate your answer into the AI algorithm for that feed. As Feedly learns what you do not like, it no longer shows you similar content in the future. All that is left in your feed is hyper-relevant content. Clean user interface with multiple article display options Feedly has gone for the minimalist approach with its interface. It is clean and intuitive, leaving you with a distraction-free reading experience. You have flexibility over how articles appear in your feeds. You can opt to only view the titles of articles, or you can view them with text previews and an article image. Feedly Pricing Feedly has four pricing plans: Free ( $0/month) Pro ( $6/month billed annually ) Pro+ ( $12/month billed annually ) Enterprise (custom quote available on request) Aiifi uses the Pro+ plan, and this was the version we used for this review. Pros and Cons As noted in the review summary earlier, Feedly, like any tool, has both pros and cons. Let's explore these in more detail. Pros Feedly updates in real-time There is no lag between an article being published and appearing on Feedly. An exhaustive list of sources Feedly can pull news, insights and content from websites, trade publications, blogs, research journals, podcasts, newsletters, and YouTube videos. The sheer amount of time and effort saved vs manual search Compared to manually searching through sites, the amount of time saved using Feedly is substantial. Combine this with the ease with which you can save and share content with your team, and this is a game changer for anyone who has to search out content online regularly. Cons Some sources require you to pay a separate subscription Feedly is not a workaround for having to pay subscriptions to content providers. While not a flaw with Feedly, it is important to point this out for when you open an article on Feedly only to find it hidden behind a paywall. To create a newsletter or team dashboard, you need an enterprise account An enterprise account involves contacting the sales team for a quote. Considering the cost of an annual subscription for the Pro+ plan is $12, another plan in the $25 to $30 price point with these features would be good. I would happily pay extra for these features, but having to go down the "Enterprise" account route immediately puts me off. AI features are only included with the Pro+ and Enterprise plans As with all AI tools and software, you must pay to access Feedly's premium features. We detail all the pricing plans in the next section. Just note you need a Pro+ or Enterprise account to use Feedly AI. Bottom line I highly recommend Feedly if you regularly search online for news or insights into particular topics, products or companies. Its use of artificial intelligence to hyper-curate content can save you hours each week. The minimalist user interface allows you to read through articles without distraction. By enabling you to save or share content with your team in a single click, Feedly is an excellent addition to the toolbox of a busy team.

Artificial Intelligence is a hot topic in 2023 and it's constantly in the news , from ChatGPT and autonomous robots to Wimbledon and the Hollywood strikes. However, it might not always be obvious how to use these new-fangled AI tools in your own business. Let’s take a look at the key areas of your business that can benefit from AI today with little or no expertise. How To Use AI For Business? The simple way to use AI in your business in 2023 is automation . Artificial intelligence can be employed to automate everything from note-taking to HR and sales outreach. Using AI for repetitive, time-consuming, or low-skill tasks is the first thing you can do to make life easier. AI for Meeting Management For example, you can use Avoma to schedule, record, and transcribe your meetings, summarize the key points, and automatically produce action items with AI. This allows your team to focus on the discussion and means no more unproductive meetings. If your team suffers from meeting madness this is a great way to quickly take back control of your time. Learn about the latest automated AI note-takers here . Make Presentations With AI Another great way to start using AI in your business is with an AI presentation maker like Beautiful.ai. No more late nights putting last-minute decks together. AI can design incredible presentations in seconds based on built-in templates combined with your data. Whether you are pitching to clients or presenting to senior management, anybody who spends hours with PowerPoint can use AI to increase their efficiency and output. Read our in-depth review of AI-powered presentation makers here . Automate Sales To Drive Growth And for anyone who works in sales, there is an abundance of AI tools that you can use to save time today. AI can automate lead generation, personalize your marketing content and give you unimaginable scale. Browse our latest AI-powered sales tools here . Artificial Intelligence Beyond Automation These tools are just a small taste of the quick and easy ways to get started with AI. Automating these simple repetitive tasks should give you the time to truly understand your business goals and USP - and then you can move onto more advanced AI tools to take your business to new heights. How To Use AI In Your Business in 2023 In conclusion, the best and easiest way to start using AI in your business in 2023 is with off-the-shelf automation tools . These can save time and money by automating repetitive or time-consuming tasks quickly. Some of these tools are surprisingly powerful and will enhance your business almost immediately. Then once you have taken that first step you can look to employ tools that more specifically assist your type of business, whatever it may be.

Working in business, a good PowerPoint presentation always impresses me. A large part of this is because I am terrible at making them myself. A good slideshow is part information/data and part art. The information and data part I have no issues with. Sadly, I have no artistic ability, so translating the data and information into a nice presentation is painful for me. The colours and elements on each slide must complement each other, and the formatting must be on point. You also need to ensure there is a cohesive theme throughout the presentation. A time-consuming ordeal for me. That's where Beautiful.ai steps in. Beautiful.ai is an AI-powered presentation maker that incorporates smart templates, automatic formatting and numerous generative AI features. I decided to use it to create a number of presentations for my business, Aiifi, to see if it made creating presentations faster and less of an ordeal for me. For those who find creating PowerPoints and presentations painful, this Beautiful.ai review is required reading. Aiifi Verdict For those who find creating, designing and formatting slideshows painful and time-consuming, Beautiful.ai is a must-try. ​Pros ​Cons ​✅Smart slide templates are very impressive ❌Stock image selection is not great ✅Auto formatting of slides is excellent ❌ Monthly cost $45 vs $12 if you pay for 1 year ✅ Editing elements is very intuitive. Even for data-intensive slides, the editor is user friendly ❌On occasion, a templates configuration meant a particular edit was not possible Why You Can Trust Aiifi Reviews All products we review we either use ourselves every day or spend hours analysing and testing. We have hands-on experience with every product. All product screenshots are originals taken by us during testing. Check out our accompanying video review to see us walking you through the product (you can't fake that!). Our AI tools directory showcases 200+ tools in 30+ categories. Researching, testing and reviewing these tools is "our thing", our area of expertise. We've extensively researched over 1,300 AI tools potentially suitable for business and professional use. Eighty per cent of these tools did not meet our strict standards and were not listed on Aiifi. We call that integrity. Who is this for? If you lack the design skills to create impactful presentations or spend too long putting your slideshows together, Beautiful.ai is for you. It is targeted at professional users who need to create presentations for work. If your audience is children or others who are non-business related, you will find many templates unsuitable for you. Key Features Smart slide templates One of my two favourite features, the smart templates, are excellent. From simple title slides and bullet points to pie charts, Venn diagrams, flowcharts, and timelines, there is a wide selection of templates to get you started. I was able to create impressive-looking charts and graphs that I could never do in PowerPoint or Google Slides. All I needed to worry about was my text and data. Auto-formatting of slides My second favourite feature - as you edit and change slides, the design is automatically formatted in real-time. When I had a slide with four bullet points and added a 5th, AI adjusted the entire slide as soon as I added the 5th. The amount of time and pain I saved by not having to adjust the slide design every time I made an addition or change was enormous. Plus, Beautiful.ai AI uses the rules of great design when formatting, so I knew my slides looked good. Editing slides is easy and intuitive Adding text, images and data to slides is simple. On a template, I click on the element I want to edit. A standard editor bar appears so that I can adjust that element. There is a drag handle to resize images and elements, with the entire slide being re-formatted once I do. Ease of Use Clean & intuitive user interface A problem I often see with tools like presentation makers is a cluttered user interface. Beautiful.ai avoids this by having a simple, user-friendly interface. Items like the element editor bars only appear when you click on an element, which I really like. By the time I finished my second presentation, I was fully comfortable with the Beautiful.ai layout. Standard control panels for presentation makers feel familiar If you have previously used PowerPoint or Google Slides, all the usual controls feature in Beautiful.ai. I can move between the slides in my presentation using the control panel at the top of the screen. I can change a slide's colour scheme and layout using the control panel on the left of the screen. The panel at the bottom of the screen lets me add/remove/adjust the specific slide I am working on. As mentioned above, I can also click on an element on the slide to make adjustments directly to that element. Beginner-friendly/short learning curve I have used PowerPoint previously, so I am familiar with presentation makers. However, I was impressed by how quickly I adjusted to using Beautiful.ai. After 90 minutes of starting, the controls felt natural. I did not miss the PowerPoint control panel at all. For those without prior experience creating slideshows, Beautiful.ai will prove to be beginner friendly. Beautiful.ai Pricing Beautiful.ai has three pricing plans: Pro ( $45/month or $12/month billed annually) Team ( $50/month or $40/month billed annually ) Enterprise (custom quote available on request) Aiifi uses the Pro plan, and this was the version we tested for this review. The 14-day free trial is for the PRO plan. All features of the PRO plan are available during the trial. A credit card is required to avail of the 14-day free trial. Pros and Cons As I mentioned in the review summary, Beautiful.ai , like any tool, has pros and cons. Let's explore these in more detail: Pros Smart Slide Templates I created slides using the Beautiful.ai templates that I would never have made on my own. The variety of templates also impressed me. Everything I needed for business presentations was there. Slides that auto-format Not having to reformat and re-design slides when I made an update saved me a mountain of time. Plus, the AI ensures the slides follow correct design rules, something I could never do. Intuitive editor controls Overall, I found the slide editor and the user interface excellent. By my second slideshow, I was entirely comfortable, which meant I could make presentations that I was satisfied with. Cons Template configuration limitations I found on occasion that a change I tried to make was not possible. For example, I wanted to move an image to a different area on the slide, but the configuration meant I could not do this. Stock image selection The selection of stock images available natively could be better. It was easy for me to upload external images and use those in my slides, but it is something to be aware of. Paying monthly for PRO costs 375% more than if you paid for one year upfront A year's PRO subscription costs $12 a month if paid upfront. Pay monthly, and it is $45, a whopping 375% premium. For comparison, Sendsteps is $10 a month if paid annually or $14 if paid monthly - a 40% premium. Tome is a 25% premium. Bottom Line Beautiful.ai is ideal for people who, like me, understand the power of a good presentation but don't have the time or skills to create an elite deck. The ready-to-use templates meant I could develop slides that would not have been possible for me to build on my own. Naturally, the time it takes to make a slideshow also dramatically drops. It's faster, far less painful, and I ended up with decks that I would never have been able to create on my own. With a 14-day free trial available, I recommend you at least give it a go!

Have you noticed an increasing number of bland, formulaic answers that lack real substance on Quora lately? You are not alone. We are witnessing the rising trend of answers on Quora written by Artificial Intelligence (AI) writing tools. These answers certainly look polished and articulate. But if we take a closer look, are these AI answers enhancing the Quora experience? Or are they actually diminishing it? What are AI writing tools? AI writing tools, such as ChatGPT and Google Bard, are applications that generate humanlike text in response to a prompt or question from a user. The complex AI models behind these tools have been trained on billions of pages of text from the internet. This training allows AI writing tools to learn how to mimic human writing styles, giving them the ability to understand the context of questions and provide detailed, humanlike answers. Are people using AI writing tools on Quora? Yes! We are seeing people copying Quora questions and pasting them into AI tools like ChatGPT. The AI tool analyzes the Quora question and writes a detailed, articulate response with correct grammar and vocabulary. To the untrained eye, these AI-generated answers may seem to be written by a human. Why is it a problem if people use AI tools to answer Quora questions? In two words - user experience. The ability of AI to mimic human writing is impressive. However, these tools answers are often formulaic, opinion-less and bland. These AI-generated responses lack the personal perspective, nuanced thought and passion inherent in human writing. People use Quora as they enjoy reading other humans' unique insights and opinions. Bland answers written by AI are not what they are looking for on Quora. The increasing prevalence of AI-generated responses ultimately dilutes the platform's unique value in connecting people. This results in a disappointing user experience. If people use AI to assist them in writing answers, but the answer still includes their insights and perspectives, that is fine. The problem is the people who copy and paste AI answers directly into Quora without adding their opinions or thoughts. Let's examine an example of an AI answer to a Quora question To better illustrate the issues with AI-generated answers on Quora, let's look at the question below: The below screenshot shows three separate answers to this question from 3 different people. Note that I have placed the answers side by side for comparison purposes and added some colour (poorly): First, you will notice that the three answers are suspiciously similar in their layout. All three use bullet points of similar size. Next, you will notice that the content in the bullet points is suspiciously similar. In fact, I have coloured the points that are identical across all three answers. Some words are slightly different, but otherwise, the content is an exact match. The reason is that all 3 of these answers are written by AI. Specifically, they have been written by tools using OpenAIs GPT-3.5 model. The proof? Here's the top part of the answer I get if I copy and paste our Quora question into ChatGPT: Looks familiar? The exact same bullet point format with identical content to our 3 Quora answers. From this, we can deduce that all three people answering this question on Quora have copied and pasted the answer ChatGPT gave them. Poor quality of AI answers AI writing tools could benefit Quora if people used them to create helpful answers. But when I read the answer to this question, any of the three versions, it is not useful. It does not tell the person any specific places to find AI automation agencies. Suggesting the person "search online, ask your network or attend industry events" is not helpful. In fact, the person asked on Quora to get recommendations from real people with knowledge or insights to share. These AI answers tell them to seek out recommendations, which is literally what they are doing on Quora. Unhelpful responses like this result in a poor user experience. The three answers are duplicates of each other Another problem is 90% of the content in the three answers is identical. Having people read the same answer three times is highly annoying. The answer should be there once, and if it is genuinely helpful, others will use the Quora "Upvote" button. Implications of AI written answers on Quora The main problem with AI-written answers on Quora is their bland and formulaic feel, resulting in a lower-quality product. Looking at why Quora say they exist in the image above, the human element is removed with AI. So in Quora's own words, their reason for existing is removed with AI answers. Instead, people connect with a machine learning algorithm with no perspective of its own and no ability, or desire, to understand the perspective of a human. Quora themselves have an AI writing tool called "Poe", which people can ask if they want an AI answer. Having Poe is a good idea as it allows people to get an immediate reply from AI, which may be enough in many cases. However, if people ask a question on Quora itself, we can assume they are not looking for an AI answer; they are looking for the insights of other humans, as otherwise, they could just ask Poe. How will this play out? As mentioned above, writers can use AI tools like ChatGPT in a positive way to them craft better answers. The issue is the AI answers copied and pasted directly from ChatGPT that lack the personal experiences, insights and anecdotes the Quora community was built on. If left unchecked, the quality of answers on Quora will be diluted, leaving it a far less interesting place. However, Artificial Intelligence is a fast-moving space. I am hopeful that with the right decisions and protections in place, Quora will continue to be the rich and insightful knowledge-sharing platform it always has been.