Do you ever find yourself asking, “What is all this hype about AI?”

If so, you’re not alone.

The buzz around artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential to revolutionize every aspect of our lives is inescapable. But how can you navigate through the noise and truly harness the power of AI to meet your business’s big goals?

It’s a question that keeps many business leaders awake at night.

Imagine being able to predict market trends before they happen, or to streamline your operations with almost exact precision. This isn’t some far-off dream; it’s the promise of generative AI.

But there’s a lot of speculation around AI. Right now, it’s uncertain, so… should you simply wait and see what happens?

Of course not!

In fact, now is exactly the time to start exploring generative AI for your company.

Sitting back isn’t an option when your rivals could be leveraging this technology to gain a competitive edge. Yes, there’s a lot to learn and understand, but isn’t that part of the thrill of doing business in the 21st century?

But one thing to keep in mind amidst the excitement, is not to lose sight of your core aims, goals, and cultures. What good is a new AI system if it doesn’t align with the way your business behaves? While the world of AI may seem like uncharted territory, some classic rules still apply.

Will you implement it? Will it generate revenue? Can it reduce your costs? Will it boost productivity? If not, perhaps it’s not the right move for your business right now.

The hackers are using AI, too

With the advancement of AI comes new developments for bad actors to weaponize, too.

Artificial intelligence has become incredibly powerful. We can create animated avatars of ourselves with just a facial scan. A few words in the right search engine can generate beautiful imagery and art.

You can even find AI to write entire book chapters (although, they don’t always make much sense).

Unfortunately, cybercriminals have learned how to code entirely new malware in significantly less time than it takes to build by hand.

Usually, malware takes up to an hour to code. Not ChatGPT: the chatbot can code phishing scams honed to lure in more victims, and it can do it in mere minutes.

It also creates infected attachments that try to give the hacker remote access to your machine. Hackers will be able to really hone their scam messages using AI that has quantitative knowledge about what works best.

They can fine-tune their ability to detect exploitable vulnerabilities on your systems. Who knows what threatening idea they’ll have artificial intelligence machines make a reality for them next?

Users need to be careful engaging with nascent technology and stay abreast of new developments that the good guys are working on, so that we can all stay ahead of cybercriminals no matter what they dream up next.