Artificial Intelligence

Knowing which GenAI tool to use is not always easy. There are many different types of tools and each of them works a little bit differently. This page provides tips and best practices for using GenAI. 

Establish goals

What are your goals and objectives for using GenAI? It's important to establish an understanding of why you are using a specific tool to accomplish a task before you start using it.

Know the functionality

What can the GenAI do for you? Each GenAI tool functions differently and it's important to understand what the tool can and cannot do. Review the application and determine if it is the right fit for your goals identified above.

Prompt engineering

How can you use the GenAI tool to the best of its ability? Most GenAI tools begin with a prompt or request on behalf of the user. Understanding how to create effective prompts is a skill itself. When writing your prompt be sure to use clear language, state your purpose, audience and format if needed. 

Iterative process

Is the output of the GenAI not what you wanted? Using GenAI is an iterative process, meaning there is a lot of back and forth between the user and the tool in order to create the output that is most useful. If you receive an output that doesn't work for you, don't give up right away. Try a new approach to your prompt and tell the tool what needs to be done differently. Once you have generated your final version of the content be sure to check it over for any mistakes.

While generative AI has its strengths, it is not without its limitations. Here are some things to consider when using GenAI.

• GenAI is not always good at understanding complex topics and is better suited to reframing them.
• The accuracy of the worked created is questionable and requires constant validation.
• There is the potentials for biased data being fed into the Large Language Model the tool is trained on.
• Hallucinations and fabrications can arise, meaning the GenAI will make up non-sensical or fake responses.
• Be careful what you enter into a GenAI tool, many privacy or content policies from these companies will claim intellectual property ownership over your prompts.