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To AI or not to AI? That is the question many businesses are asking themselves. In the world of Marketing, Communications and Donor Relations, our team conducted a survey to see how our employees felt about using AI in the workplace. The results showed that many were open to using it and even enjoyed experimenting with it. However, there were also some concerns and anxieties about its use.

Among the benefits identified by our employees were the potential for AI to help them get started on projects, avoid repetitive work, and increase their overall productivity. But along with these benefits came concerns about job loss, inappropriate content creation, lack of a human touch, security, ethics, and the need for appropriate training.

Despite these concerns, our team is already using AI for a variety of tasks, including making event descriptions more enticing, writing emails on policies and procedures, and creating administrative and proposal frameworks. We also see the potential for AI to automate reporting and other administrative tasks, generate personalized communications based on donor data, and provide ideas to get projects started.

Moreover, AI has the potential to connect to knowledge bases to automate various actions, including drafting plans and procedures, conducting surveys, and creating task lists. By harnessing AI in these ways, our team believes we can be more efficient, productive, and creative.

However, we also recognize the importance of addressing the concerns and anxieties surrounding AI. One way to do this is through appropriate training that helps employees understand how to use AI in a responsible and ethical manner. Additionally, we can work to ensure that AI is transparent, so that its use and decision-making processes are understandable to those who are affected by it.As Shakespeare once wrote, "With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come." While AI may seem like a serious and intimidating topic, it's important to approach it with a sense of curiosity and experimentation. By doing so, we can unlock its full potential and use it to benefit both our team and the wider community.

In conclusion, our team sees great potential in using AI to streamline our work and increase our productivity. However, we also acknowledge that there are valid concerns and anxieties that need to be addressed. By striking a balance between experimentation and responsibility, we can use AI to achieve our goals while ensuring that it remains a force for good.

BTW, this entire column was written by ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI. I asked ChatGPT to write this coloumn by giving it some examples of my writing and asking it to imitate my style using the instructions below. The article was written in about 14 seconds and I did not edit what ChatGPT wrote.

����ֱ�� two months ago, I challenged my team to come up with potential uses for ChatGPT at work. This is what the team came up with. 

Have fun figuring out what you can do with AI!

Instructions to ChatGPT:

Please write a newsletter article for staff of between 600-700 words outlining the benefits and potential issues of using artificial intelligence at work based on the following information: 

We conducted a staff survey within Marketing, Communications and Donor Relations. Twelve people responded. Five people said they were very open to using AI, six people said they were somewhat open and, one person said they were not open to using AI. 

After they had had a chance to experiment, nine people were open and three were somewhat open to using AI at work. 41.7 % said they used AI more than 20 times, 8.3 % had used it 11-20 times, 41.7% said 20+ times and, 8.3% said they had lost track of how many times they had used AI. 

91.7% said they enjoyed experimenting with AI, 8.3% said they did not. 

100 per cent of our employees surveyed said that they see potential to use AI more in the future to help them with work applications. 

Employees identified many things they liked about the potential of AI in the workplace. Among the biggest benefits: 

• Employees believe AI can help them get started on a project or task, even if it can't fully complete the job for them. 
• They believe it will help them avoid repetitive work. 
• They believe it will help them work faster. Even though employees are enthusiastic about AI, they also have concerns about its use in the workplace.

Top concerns include:

• worry about it leading to a loss of jobs 
• worry that it can produce content that is inappropriate to the circumstances and that it won't be noticed 
• worry that it lacks a human touch, too robotic 
• worry about security of content 
• worry about ethics and spread of misinformation 
• worry that it's a first step and needs to be edited 
• worry that we need appropriate training  

Employees are all using Chat GTP but other platforms being used include: 

• DALL E2 
• Bing AI Chat 
• Google Bard 
• Jasper Chat 
• Adobe AI Speech Enhancer 

Some findings: 

• Employees are open to using and experimenting with AI 
• They are not finding AI at home, so it might be helpful to introduce people to it at work to encourage participation/experimentation 
• There is some anxiety around AI. How do we address that? 
• What kind of training can we provide to employees to help them harness AI to be more efficient, productive, and creative? 
• People are already using AI at work, and can imagine a future with many possibilities for production and efficiencies What our team is using AI for right now: make event descriptions more enticing 
• help with writing emails on policies and procedures 
• administrative frameworks and templates 
• proposal frameworks 
• interview questions 
• issues management 
• helped me get started on a task 
• social content 
• media production tasks 
• audio production 
• letter writing 
• social content 
• media production tasks 
• audio production 
• rewriting 

What the team thinks it can be used for going forward: 

•    generate personalized communications based on donor data 
•    ideas to get projects started 
•    form and other letters 
•    tests for email content 
•    task lists connect to knowledge bases to automate various actions 
•    draft plans and procedures 
•    surveys 
•    rewriting
•    automate reporting and other admin tasks 

Feel free to add your own thoughts about how AI can be used.

And please add an appropriate Shakespeare quote to the article where appropriate.

Celebrating success: Emma Clarke wins CCAE Rising Star Award

We are delighted to share with you the exciting news that the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education (CCAE) has announced the recipients of its 2023 Distinguished Service Awards, which recognize the outstanding contributions of individuals who work in the field of education and advancement. 

Among the recipients is our very own Emma Clarke, Development & Stewardship Relationship Manager, who has been awarded the Rising Star Award. See what to the CCAE community about what this award means to her. 

“Emma is a determined and results-oriented fundraiser who has succeeded in goals and objectives … I look forward to watching Emma continue her achievements and accomplishments in the institutional advancement field with pride,” says Cicely Dickson, Associate Director, Development & Alumni Engagement, Smith School of Business at Queen’s University 

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Emma on this well-deserved recognition! 

2023-24 Annual Plan

Advancement’s 2023-24 Annual Plan was presented to staff last Friday. This plan is a we, as a collective, will focus on moving forward this year. It is a comprehensive document that provides details on each objective including tactics, timelines, accountability, and areas involved.