Is it the Real World, or is it AI? An Entrepreneur’s “101” Intro to AI

Event description

You’ve heard plenty about Artificial Intelligence being a “game changer” across industries – but what does that mean for your day-to-day work? We asked ourselves this question – and how AI could level the playing field for small businesses – and did some investigating.

We know that as a small business owner, manager, or employee, there’s so much you need to keep up on – so when do you have time to learn how to use AI? Today is the day! In this beginner-focused session, join us as “AI Explorers” as we discuss the basics of Artificial Intelligence. In this “AI 101” session, we will:

• Give you a foundational understanding of how AI “thinks,” including common drawbacks and areas where the tools excel.
• Teach a framework for how to talk to AI using prompt engineering (and suggestions for improving prompts when something goes wonky!)
• Give you examples of how you might use a variety of free or low-cost tools – including, but not limited to ChatGPT! – to increase efficiency in tasks ranging from marketing to administrative tasks to operational planning

You will leave this session with sample prompts to try, tools and resources to explore, and the confidence to embrace being an AI Explorer – starting today!

Presenter Heather Ferguson, Wisconsin Small Business Development Center at UW-Madison