Over the past 2 months I’ve been exploring a lot of AI services and platforms to help support my business and professional services.
𝘼𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙛𝙤𝙧:
– 𝗘𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗜’𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻. Need copy editing, graphics, to precis down a large 4 page summary into 2 pages? – AI’s got your back
– 𝗔 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗴𝗼𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗮 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲. If you use Chat GPT or Gemini, and ask very tightly defined questions, you can get more focused answers or links.
– 𝗔 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗿. AI: “Find me the most recent economic strategy for this city” can be helpful to double check you are up to date.
– 𝗔𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲. If you use AI for single report -you can use AI to field questions such as “what does this report say about digital skills?” etc.
– 𝗙𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀 – Microsoft Pilot is good. Some video ai apps are outstanding e.g. crushing my boring 30 minute lectures into whippy 1 minute tik tok videos at a mouse click, text editing the transcript to cut the video.
𝙈𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝘼𝙄 𝙖𝙧𝙚:
– 𝗟𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗼𝗯𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀. Such is the vast array of data and information out there – AI gives an answer, but not usually the best answer. This comes to the fore if asking AI to write something from scratch – the results are often pretty dull and insipid in content in a high impact marketing style – which I find slightly amusing.
– 𝗟𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵. Since many localities and cities are often very self-promotional (and who wouldn’t want to proclaim a very positive image for investors, eh?) – if you ask about a place, it is 95% positive. It’s a bit like asking about Springfield from the Simpsons – it will tell you that it has a fantastic monorail and a thriving nuclear energy industry! For someone like me, I need to know the unvarnished truth!
– 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄. Ask AI to report on statistics about a topic in an area and it will again scratch the surface and likely report one indicator or measure, won’t understand some of the ambiguities or methdological limitations of data or triangulate all the potential good data sources to come to a rounded view.
In sum – AI is making the day job easier, cutting time spent on some routine work and processes, but for high quality and robust economic research and policy making – I will remain dependent on my own brain.
5. Beyond slogans: a grown-up conversation about UK industrial strategy (Article 5 of 5 on industrial policy)
The preceding four articles have sought to build perspectives on the role of industrial development in local and regional economies. In this final article. I tie this together by looking at the role of industrial policy and strategy. The perennial question for the UK:...
