A.I. is Your Army of Interns

The AI landscape is evolving at an unprecedented pace, and getting a grasp on AI’s current capabilities and future potential is daunting. When considering the impact of any new technology, the most common reaction is being protective of your current processes and workflows—having a fixed mindset. What’s needed most during times of rapid change, however, is a growth mindset.

We’ve recently developed a successful approach to having open and engaging discussions about AI with our clients and prospects. It involves a simple thought experiment. Imagine, for a moment, that instead of “Artificial Intelligence,” AI stood for “Army of Interns”.

If your title agency had access to an Army of Interns, how would you put them to work?

Interns are great at entry-level tasks such as document sorting, data entry, and retrieving documents and information from other websites. Perhaps you’d have interns help you with opening orders, reviewing and splitting document packages, and comparing names, addresses, and legal descriptions across documents.

Just like an intern, when you start working with AI, you’ll want to review its work. The more you work together, the more you’ll get to know its strengths and weaknesses. You’ll get a feel for the types of tasks where you can trust it to do a good job and the tasks not suitable for delegation.

Just like an intern, AI excels in handling simpler, repetitive tasks that don't demand deep domain expertise or critical thinking. For tasks requiring deep expertise, nuanced judgment, or creative problem-solving, the human touch remains indispensable. AI, in its current state, cannot replicate the complex decision-making and emotional intelligence that seasoned professionals bring to the table.

Just like an intern, with the right type of training and feedback, an AI application can improve its performance. An AI application built using machine learning models can learn from its prior mistakes through retraining. Such retraining does require human assistance, much like helping out an intern when you highlight their errors and offer corrections.  

If you had an Army of Interns at your office, what tasks would you assign them? Take a moment to consider all of the possibilities. When you’ve answered this question, you’re ready to take the next step in putting AI to work for you.