I hate to say it, but gatekeeping is a real thing when it comes to the good AI tools – I want to break that mold. Gatekeeping AI tools is reinforced on both sides of supply and demand. Those that are in the know want to keep their advantage a secret for a bit longer. From the supply side, many creators are forcing users to get access through hard-to-come-by peer-to-peer invites or beta programs.
Today, I want to share the 5 tools that I have found the most day-to-day use for. These are all tools that you should be able to get access to and use without gatekeeping. In no particular order:
1. AI Agent in Excel: Having access to something as powerful as ChatGPT in an Excel cell has been a game-changer in how I operate. I use this daily now. I save at least a half day, at least once a week. The idea is simple: you can task an AI directly in an Excel cell. The response from the AI is placed back in the cell. You can use the drag and autofill features to then apply the same AI prompt across many different cells and sets of data. If you are interested in learning more, check out my previous article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/llm-agents-spreadsheets-superpower-chris-weidemann-resdc/?trackingId=v9fZ2H%2BIQPm0FxVjpeFMcA%3D%3D
Check our Bardeen AI if you're not interested in the bespoke path. It does a lot of what I find valuable. I'm just security minded and prefer to control how my data is used.
Example: Suppose you need to generate monthly sales reports. By using an AI Agent in Excel, you can automate the process of data summarization, highlight key trends, generate textual summaries explaining the data, or even do research with the product placed back into the sheet. This ensures you have insightful reports ready with minimal effort.
2. Document Data Extraction: We all have some type of document that we see on a recurring basis. If you’re like me and need a way of extracting information from those documents, using an AI document extraction tool is a superpower. There are many document data extraction tools out there. In fact, ChatGPT will do some basic extractions by just uploading the document to chat. However, with just a little bit of Googling and maybe a short YouTube video, you could have the enterprise-class version of document data extraction up and running within a handful of hours: Microsoft’s Azure AI Document Intelligence.
Internally, we are using a mix of Azure AI’s Document Intelligence and ChatGPT. When I’m remote and see a business card or physical piece of paper I want transcribed, I ask ChatGPT to do it – I would say it works well 75% of the time. When I’m at my desk, and one of the many templated documents comes across my desk, I ask Document Intelligence to handle it. With the pre-built data models and connectivity with the rest of Microsoft’s automation cloud, Document Intelligence is an incredibly valuable contribution to our business. Learn more about Document Intelligence here: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/ai-services/ai-document-intelligence
Now, I get it. You’ve been able to extract information from documents for a long time. The change is now, with AI, the documents no longer have to meet some strict format or template. Instead, AI reads the document and extracts the information you’ve requested due to its core understanding of language. It finds things the same way we do, understanding the context surrounding the data.
Example: Imagine you receive hundreds of invoices every week, and they all look different. With AI document data extraction, you can define the key details like vendor names, amounts, and dates, that you want extracted. AI will then read the document for you, and thanks to its understanding of language, can figure out where each of those key details are located and dynamically extract them. Taking it a step further, as a product of the extraction, the AI can feed the data directly into Excel or your accounting software. This reduces manual entry errors and speeds up your workflow. You could even add in workflows after extraction, like performing anomaly detection (which AI does far better than humans).
3. Drag and Drop AI Automation: You’ve all seen drag and drop process tools like IFTTT, Power Automate, or Appian. Adding AI to those tools brings a whole new value and makes them useful to all business roles. Historically, companies would invest in things like Appian because they were going to build large-scale business process management, focusing on large-scale processes that impact the masses. Adding AI to these tools does two major things: 1) It reduces the barrier of entry significantly to produce tools. AI, with a few sentences explaining what you want to do, can build +90% of the workflow. This means businesses or individuals can justify building tools that help an individual role. 2) AI in these workflows also allows for a lot of ‘grey’. When building a business process system in the past, we’ve always needed very strict business rules to tell the system to follow. Since AI has a strong understanding of context, these automations need far less detail. All of this reduces the barrier to entry for normal day-to-day business users. It makes intelligent automation accessible to all.
I have found the tool Chipp.AI to be very helpful for both individuals and businesses. You can either create your own processes or use one of the many community-published apps that are already built. If it integrates with your daily business tools, take a look. If you find yourself needing help, Advisor Labs is one of their trusted implementers. https://app.chipp.ai/explore
Examples: As a personal banker, use intelligent automation to extract information from your clients physical records, analyze their spending habits, review their investment portfolios, and then generate text summaries of what is found. The automation can generate personalized advice and alerts for each client, allowing you to get a second set of eyes on the data prior to meeting with your client.
4. Custom Enterprise GPT: This shouldn’t even be open for discussion. Every business should have a private large language model. If they do not provide employees with an enterprise GPT, the employees will go out and use a public tool, like ChatGPT, instead. This is a huge risk for the business. Anything that is put into the public versions of these AI tools becomes data accessible by all public users. Do you really want your HR or customer data accessible by anyone using the public version of ChatGPT?
Advisor Labs is able to deploy these enterprise large language models at a very low cost. You can take it a step further and implement Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG). RAG is an advanced AI framework that combines the strengths of retrieval-based methods and generative models to enhance information accuracy and relevance. It works by retrieving pertinent documents from defined document sets and then generating coherent and contextually enriched responses, leveraging both retrieved content and generative capabilities. This enables you to enhance the power of LLM’s, like ChatGPT, with the knowledge of your business. Learn more here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/8-reasons-consider-custom-llm-chris-weidemann-fztpf/?trackingId=sbk6H0zvSJ24kOVbL7bfOQ%3D%3D
Example: For a company dealing with sensitive client information, Custom Enterprise GPT can provide secure and accurate customer service responses, internal communications, and data analysis, all while ensuring compliance with data privacy regulations. This maintains customer trust and operational efficiency.
5. AI Data Analytics: Data Analytics, powered by AI, revolutionizes the way businesses interpret and utilize their data, transforming it into insights. These advanced tools leverage machine learning and predictive analytics to identify patterns, trends, and anomalies within vast datasets. By automating the data analysis process, it not only speeds up the time to insight but also ensures a higher degree of accuracy and relevance in the findings. This empowers all business roles to proactively address challenges. Now, a marketing expert can get a deep analytical commentary without a data analyst.
About Advisor Labs
Advisor Labs specializes in building custom AI solutions to meet the unique needs of businesses. Our expertise lies in seamlessly integrating AI with existing business systems to enable intelligent process automation. We help organizations automate complex workflows, enhance decision-making, and improve operational efficiency. Whether it’s developing AI models, deploying enterprise-grade language models, implementing AI-driven data analytics, or building a custom application that integrates all business systems together, Advisor Labs is your trusted partner in navigating the AI revolution. Visit our website to learn more:
