Ep 44: ChatGPT and AI: A big opportunity?
Today's episode is hosted by me Ayo Abbas and sees me getting to grips with my view on ChatGPT and AI technology. I look into it from a built environment, a marketing, and an educational perspective.
About the show
The Built Environment Marketing Show is a podcast for architects, engineers, marketers and anyone interested in all things built environment and marketing related. The show is hosted by marketing consultant Ayo Abbas from Abbas Marketing. The consultancy bridges the gap between business strategy and tactical marketing for engineers and architects.
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Transcript.
Ayo Abbas 00:05
Hello, and welcome to the first episode of The Built Environment Marketing Show 2023 and yes, I am still your host Ayo Abbas from Abbas Marketing, a marketing firm that works with amazingly technical engineers and architects who want to do smart marketing.
Ayo Abbas 00:23
This is the first show that I am recording for this season. And this time around, I'm going to mix things up a bit. So, a slight change from last year, rather than just doing all round interviews, I'm gonna do one solo episode and then one interview.
Ayo Abbas 00:38
So each month, you'll still be getting two episodes, but there'll be a bit more of a mix between the two. Today's topic is something that I can't get away from; you can't get away from; it's all about AI and ChatGPT, which, to be frank, is taking over the world and the social media waves; it is everywhere. I guess for me, it was a subject that I thought I do actually know and have an opinion on, but I wasn't actually going to cover it mainly because I kind of figured everyone was covering it. But then I had one of my proptech clients who are amazing, who in an interview, not an interview, who actually, when we were in a meeting, and not an interview, wasn't interviewing me. But we he started using ChatGPT in front of me and showing it how he uses it for him and for his team, and their all kinds of developers and they're building an AI tool.
Ayo Abbas 01:30
So, you know, it makes sense that they are tech; they test it. So anyway, so that's how I kind of was thrown in the deep end and actually kind of could see what it did. So that kind of led me to think actually, you know what, it's a really good tool. And I was pretty impressed by it; I was blown away by it because you can add nuance to it, you could add a bit about, you know, the AEC industry, it even knew what it stood for. And really, it just shows how AI and kind of machine learning and those types of tools, how they've got so much better. And you know what the response that the machine actually gave to us, the ChatGPT machine, I'll say, it was actually pretty good, it was a pretty good starting point, and actually wasn't too dissimilar to the research I've done the day earlier. So in some ways, we've all got to understand the capability of these tools and understand how we can get as much value from them to help them to do our jobs because they're here to stay. And in some ways, you know, the what they're doing is not bad, it's not rubbish, it's getting a lot better. So, closing our eyes and thinking this is going to go away, it's not really going to happen.
Ayo Abbas 02:42
Back to AI and machine learning in the built environment. So, like I said, these tools are always learning, they're always getting better, the technology is getting better. It's not quite so robotic; it's starting to learn more, it's starting to sound more human, it's starting to understand even the language of the built environment, it knows what the AEC is, it knows what our industry is, so it's got that level of understanding, which means it can do a pretty good job. And I think as well, especially even just looking at tools that actually help people in the built environment, not marketing tools, because actual proptech tools, construction, construction technology tools. And sit there and think we're an industry that is so traditional. And yet, , we're unproductive, we get more and more, we get less and less efficient every year. And I think there's a huge kind of wealth of opportunities for technology to really, fast forward us into where we should actually be. And I think as well when you start to layer on the fact that the complex challenges that we have to deal with from how do we decarbonise? How do we, you know, push through the sustainability agenda? How do we reduce the resources that we use on this planet? Because we are a kind of resource hungry, a resource intensive, intensive industry. So we've really got to use technology, I think to boost what we do. And actually, when you start to think of it in that way of, how can it help us as a marketeer? How can it help us as a built environment firm ? Then you start to realise, really, how exciting these tools really are for us and what they can help us realise.
Ayo Abbas 04:24
Hi, it's Ayo here, and I just wanted to tell you a bit more about the show. The Built Environment Marketing Show was set up during lockdown one as a way to help firms do better marketing. It was very much about having the conversations that I have with my friends and showing what best practice really is. In terms of me. Well, I'm actually a generalist marketeer. I know lots of things about marketing and how to put everything together. So I could be talking about PR, or understanding what to do next strategy wise, or figuring out how to get in front of the right audience or what messaging you should be using. Those are all things that I'm kind of really skilled in and understand how to do for my clients. I now work for myself, and I set up my own consultancy, Abbas Marketing, in 2020. And I'm working with a range of engineering and architectural firms and even prop tech firms who really want to talk the language of their clients and their audiences and do something a bit different in terms of their strategy and content. If what I do sounds of interest to you, do email me at Ayo@abbasmarketing.com. And there's a -y -o, or head to my website, which is www.abbasmarketing.com. For more info, there's also a link in the show notes. Bye.
Ayo Abbas 05:38
And now, I get onto thinking about marketing and chatGPT and AI. So to write this script for this episode, I recorded it on Otter into my phone, and otter is actually an AI powered transcription tool. So actually, the initial draft for this episode was spoken into my phone. So, I use that regularly for interviews and for taking notes; you do need to tighten up the copy quite a bit. But actually, it's really useful for capturing information quickly, and I think it cost me like £100 for the whole year. So it's a brilliant, brilliant subscription tool.
Ayo Abbas 06:09
So when you start to think about ChatGPT and AI, you could either see it as a threat and what I know right away and just put your head in the sand and just say, its not happening, it's rubbish, you'll always need to pay us. Or you can kind of sit there and say, What can these tools take away from me? That is mundane, that is repetitive. And that is a baseline thing that I don't need to be doing. I mean for me, I'm a senior level marketer of 21 years experience. There's a lot of base level stuff that a machine could actually do and get me to where I need. And then I can focus on the strategy and the ideas and then kind of bringing things together and I kind of novel way, which is actually where I add value to my clients, and focus on those efforts and use my resources there. I think that's what we've all got to do; we've got to understand, I guess, where the tools can really take the strain. And where we as humans can really add value, and that is the real opportunity. That is where we can really show our value as specialists, our value as marketers, and we can kind of streamline processes and make them way more efficient and just get better at what we do. So I personally see them as an opportunity for marketers.
Ayo Abbas 07:21
And then I guess I'm also going to touch on education because I don't think we can get away from it. There's this whole thing around gearing up for the fourth industrial revolution; you know, the world of work is changing forever. And, you know, I previously, before I previously in 2019, I did actually spend a year working in a tech firm. And what fascinated me was looking at the schooling system. And actually, is it fit for purpose? You know, with the likes of machine learning AI, ChatGPT?
Ayo Abbas 07:51
You're there going, my son learning about history from the 1500s, is that the right thing for him to be learning? Or actually, should he be learning about how to bring together teams, problem solving, how to get the best out of tools, like, you know, AI tools, you know how to use them to kind of utilise them to actually bring people together more. So there's this whole misalignment between the education system as it currently is and what's actually coming in the world of work. So I think it's gonna be a really fascinating area to understand how we can kind of use those kinds of tools in the education system and with our next generation of workers, which is what my son will be, scarily. But yeah, that's another area to really, really think about.
Ayo Abbas 08:36
Anyway, so I'm just going to cover off. I mean, this is a bit of a short episode, a bit of a trial. So hopefully you find it interesting. But late last year, I did a 12 days of marketing technology with Simon Marshall over on LinkedIn, where we looked at our respective tech stacks. There you go. And we shared some of the tools that we use for things like writing, some of the tools that we use for project management, for running LinkedIn, for scheduling for lots of kinds of different areas. And I really do think that as a marketeer, we all should be looking at these types of tools, understanding what they do, and also where they can really help us and our clients and our businesses that we work for. Because I think there's a lot out there, and a lot, it's got a lot better. And there's new things coming to the market all the time. So I think it's just keeping a watch on what they are. I will share a link to the #12daysofMartech, so you can get to see that, but we're also going to be planning some lives over the coming year look at various tools and trial things out so you can kind of hear more and ask questions and find out more on that. Anyway, thank you so much for listening to my first solo episode, and I am looking forward to speaking to you more. Take care. Bye,
Ayo Abbas 09:54
out the show notes, which will have useful links and resources connected to this episode. You can find that on www.abbasmarketing.com and of course, if you liked the show, please do share it with others on social as it helps more people to find us. See you soon.
