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Is AI Really That Smart?

Or Is It Just a Tool?

By Mitchell Slepian

We are all using AI. We are all worried about it. Will it cancel our jobs? Will it take over? How useful is it? Will we see AI-created art the next time we visit the Guggenheim?

We are the beginnings of a new phase. We could be a little further into it. The questions raised are is it smarter than us? There are many answers. To begin, we have seen so many industries change. At one point, there were a few news stations we’d watch on our TV sets. Then came 24-hour cable news programs. Now they stream and it is all over social media. We used to listen to music on records, reel-to-reelss, 8-track, the trusty old cassette, and then the “modern” CD. Now we listen to it digitally on our phones, laptops, Alexa, etc.

I just completed working on a video for an organization I chair. The producer used Speechify for the narration. Did it solve our needs? Did it create more work? Yes and No. Sure, it took the voice narrative and created a transcript. It saved time. Did it spell things right? No. Con Edison became “Khan Edison.” We didn’t have Star Trek characters in our video. I wish.  Did it spell people’s surnames right? Yes and No. A few times, it spelled a name correctly at the beginning of the video and butchered it elsewhere. Did it pronounce things right? Yes and No. It can’t capture ethnic accents.  It certainly provided a lot of help. But we wanted our video to sound authentic, with that Brooklynese and Staten Island sound. Was it useful to our process? Totally. What did we learn? The apps are super helpful. Are they foolproof? No. Should we continue to use and expand our use? Yes. 

There are tools like Grammarly to do grammar checks. Word does it. Do they get everything? No. These tools often make mistakes with proper nouns and trademarked names, and they are obsessed with the Oxford or serial comma. Some style manuals (APA and Chicago) use it. At the same time, some (AP) does not. Wordsmiths will continue to debate this. Do we need the clarity it provides, or should we save space?  Will AI learn this? Will it make suggestions to steer you in the right direction? I bet it will.

These tools suggest other words than what you wrote. Are they accurate? It is a mixed bag. You can run the same copy through the app multiple times. Try using different apps. It is like looking at multiple weather apps. One says rain. The says heat wave. These apps have similarities. It often gives different grades and suggestions each time. You can get a 100 on round two and a 94 on round three. I doubt that in the span of five minutes, it is being reprogrammed to catch new things. But it does clean things up and gives you a good idea of what needs improvement. It is up to you to use the tools to fix things.

AI works great when building press lists for PR pros. It can do a deep dive into a media outlet and pull up key contact information, deadlines, and submission requirements. It is great when doing research. It is great when doing background information on companies you want to do business with. Sometimes, using Google’s Gemini or X’s Grok, you get quicker results than searching a corporate website.

But when using it, you must verify. Do some quick research to make sure things are accurate. Proof it. Do not trust it 100 percent. It will always get better and become a more useful tool. Of course, we need to remember it is only as smart as those who programmed it. But in many ways, we are getting smarter by challenging ourselves to be more innovative.

Is LinkedIn Worth It?

Has It Helped You?

By Mitchell Slepian

LinkedIn officially launched on May 5, 2003. I remember joining it shortly after. I worked at Vonage. I was at my desk when someone called to do business with us. The caller mentioned she found me because she saw I was connected to a colleague of hers on LinkedIn. That was part of the platform’s original purpose – to provide connections. I really didn’t know the person she mentioned, whom she connected me with. But my eyes opened.

I began connecting with more and more people. I am careful with who I connect with. Many people probe your profile and try to scam you for money. They say they are recruiters and resume writers, and that they hold various professional credentials. They impersonate legitimate employees at companies such as Cisco, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and many others. Those companies often post notifications on their websites to alert users to these fraudsters. They tell how they will write your corporation’s content and provide a fake copy as an example. They always ask for your credit card. I have never fallen prey to these shenanigans. Yeah, Facebook, Instagram, and X have scammers. But in my experience, LinkedIn attracts more.

I know many people who are obsessed with making new connections and are posting routinely. I do both. I always hope it’ll lead to bigger things. We all want that. Has it? Not yet. I hope.

Companies post. Of course, those who do it right build their business. It can be great for that. For the last year or two, I have had a Premium membership. I did that a few years ago and canceled. I decided to try it again. It gives you first dibs on its job board, InMail, and other good things, but only in limited ways.

But the question raised is, is it worth it? My views have increased. I post my blogs and corporate content, and I’m a top poster on the Nikon Z users’ page. For the most part, the same people like and comment. The bigger question is, do people read what you post? Meaning, I add links to things. I can pretty much see who is clicking on them. For the most part, the LinkedIn audience does not. I do better with emails, Facebook, and Instagram. 

People write about how to do better on LinkedIn. People talk about it all the time. Have I gotten any interviews by applying to roles on its job boards? Yes. Has it helped me land a job? No. Other job boards have worked better. Much better.

Bottom line, it is important to use LinkedIn. But one must not rely on it as much as some do. The key things are to use many of its competitors and be careful who you connect with on LinkedIn. The same goes for other sites.  Will I renew Premium? Probably. It does offer some pluses. Is it the best platform? No.

But I am sure I will see ‘ya on LinkedIn and the other sites.

What’s the Best Way to Communicate: email, social media or texting?

By Mitchell Slepian

Email has been mainstream in business since the 1990s. As we know, we now have too many other ways to communicate, including but not limited to social media and texting. Remember faxing? Or snail mail? Both are still in play. 

As a chair of a community organization and a volunteer in a few others, we generally communicate our business via email. Several of us who are friends often have our own discussions via chat. But all official business is done via email. 

We have members who do not have email. They do not have computers. Some are senior citizens. But before we toss in the age factor, I have worked with people in their early 90s to create PowerPoints and run podcasts. They had no issues. Yes, I worked with people much younger who had no clue how to use email or other communication methods. So, age is just a number.

About two weeks ago, it snowed in New York City. It hampered some events. One started at 7:30 a.m.  ET. The other was supposed to begin at 9 a.m. ET. We wound up combining our groups. This recent storm was not the first time we have had to take that course of action. It will not be the last. We early birds sat around, and the folks from the later-starting group wandered in. Both groups have their latecomers. Snow delayed some of them even further. A day or two later, I suggested that when we know the weather will not be good, we send an email and make a robocall to let people know we are combining. Several people blasted this idea, saying some people don’t have email, and others don’t want to be bothered by a robocall. I made the case that email has been in play for a long time and that the call was coming from a number we all know. It should not register as a potential spam call, as carriers like to say.

I know people who text to landlines. I still have one. The texts usually arrive in gibberish. As chair of my group, generally start meetings (which are traditionally on Zoom, that’s another issue), reminding people you need to text their cell phones. Some folks love Facebook Messenger. Unfortunately, they do not realize Messenger works on Facebook. Many don’t know that you cannot email Gmail or send SMS messages from Messenger. Don’t get me started on WhatsApp. I think it works great and has its place.

Before I was chair, I was corresponding secretary. I created a form for people to send me via email when they donate. I can take their contact information off it and generate thank-you notes to distribute via email and traditional mail. It is still lovely to receive a personal, warm thank-you note in the mail. One of my chairs used to mail me handwritten notes with donor information. Sometimes he would wait weeks, and I’d get an envelope with 30 or 40 scraps of paper with contact information. This issue severely hampered our program.

The question has always lingered in my mind: What to do? I continue to use email and will call people. But the question will always linger on how to reach everyone.