At Somar Digital, we recently hosted an AI workshop alongside Amazon Web Services (AWS) for our client-partners, focusing on the groundbreaking potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and its applications across various business sectors.
The workshop aimed to demystify AI, offering practical insights into its deployment and benefits for businesses. Through this session, we explored how AI, particularly generative AI, can be a game-changer for businesses willing to embrace its capabilities.
Here are five key takeaways from the event.
1. Generative AI
Generative AI stands at the forefront of this technological revolution, capable of creating new content, including text, images, videos, and music. It operates on large language models (LLMs) and machine learning(external link), powered by foundation models (FMs) that have been pre-trained on extensive data corpuses.
The workshop dispelled common myths surrounding AI, presenting it as an accessible tool that businesses can harness to innovate and streamline operations. The ability of generative AI to produce novel content and ideas opens up endless possibilities for enhancing brand offerings and engaging with customers in unprecedented ways.
2. Starting Small with AI
Implementing AI into business operations doesn't require a complete overhaul of existing processes. A key message from our workshop was the strategy of starting small, identifying specific areas within workflows where AI can provide immediate benefits.
This incremental approach allows businesses to gradually integrate AI technologies, making the transition smoother and more manageable. By focusing on achievable targets, companies can build confidence in using AI, paving the way for broader adoption in the future.
3. Use Cases and Demos
One of the most enlightening segments of the workshop was the presentation of diverse use cases and demos. We delved into how AI can enhance customer experiences, boost employee productivity and creativity, and optimise business processes.
The workshop showcased AI applications across various sectors, including healthcare, financial services, retail, media and entertainment, and industrial and manufacturing.
Through demos of Amazon Bedrock(external link) and Amazon Q, participants gained insights into selecting the appropriate model for their specific business needs, illustrating AI's versatility and potential for customisation.
4. Security
A major concern surrounding the adoption of AI technologies is security and privacy. The workshop addressed these concerns head-on, highlighting the robust security features inherent in AWS services.
We discussed a range of ways that AWS approaches data security. AWS ensures that customer data is not used to train the underlying models, all data is encrypted both in transit and at rest, and any data used to customise models remains within the customer's Virtual Private Cloud (VPC).
Additionally, AWS supports compliance with various standards, including GDPR(external link) and HIPAA, showcasing its commitment to upholding the highest security and privacy standards.
5. The Importance of Good Quality Data
The effectiveness of generative AI significantly depends on the quality of data it is trained on. The workshop emphasised the importance of using bespoke datasets to train AI systems, enabling them to reflect the unique aspects of your business and customer base. By integrating AI with your existing data architecture, you can create a more personalised and effective AI system that stands out from the competition.
This approach not only enhances the AI's relevance and efficiency but also ensures that the generated outputs are closely aligned with your business objectives and customer expectations.
Conclusion
The AWS AI workshop was a great opportunity for a few of our client-partners to get a handle on generative AI and how it can help their businesses going forward. By understanding generative AI, starting small, recognising the importance of security and quality data, and exploring diverse use cases, businesses can leverage AI to its full potential.
At Somar Digital, we are excited about supporting our client-partners to help them better understand how they can make the most of AI and how it can help their business.
If you would like to learn more about our AI workshops you can contact the Somar team by filling out the form below.
