3 Ways to Get Over Your Fear of AI

Generative AI isn’t a passing fad; it’s becoming the most crucial skill for professionals. Companies are spending big money integrating generative AI, making it crucial that employees can use it in their work. If you’re unfamiliar with what generative AI is or not sure how to use it, check out my mastering prompting course to get started. Unlike new software advances in the past that primarily impacted specific roles, departments, or industries, generative AI impacts everyone.

In this article, I’m going to share three actionable ways to get over your fear of generative AI, and as a result, you’ll be using it as your assistant, not fearing it as your replacement.

Get Comfortable with Generative AI

Companies are rapidly adopting generative AI beyond data and cloud infrastructure. The WSJ reported this at the end of 2023. The early adopters were in sales, marketing, customer support, and graphic design. Now, companies from different industries in medicine, construction, and e-commerce, like Wayfair, Schneider Electric, Mass General Brigham Hospital, and Bentley Systems, are incorporating generative AI.

The diversity of companies across industries investing in generative AI highlights how important using generative AI is for all companies, not just one role or department.  If you haven’t used generative AI, then visit ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, or Microsoft’s Copilot, sign up, and start getting familiar with it today.

Master Prompting with Generative AI

All generative AI programs function the same way: being prompted by a person. Prompting is the key skill to unlocking generative AI. Now, even though all generative AI programs rely on prompts, they can’t all act on the same prompts. A prompt that works for ChatGPT won’t work for an in-house generative AI at a hospital or a design-based generative AI like Canva.

Getting comfortable using generative AI means becoming a master prompter. Since each generative AI needs specific prompts, a master prompter knows how to tailor prompts to suit each generative AI’s specific capabilities.

Becoming a master prompter guarantees you’re adding a valuable skill for future work.

Save Your Prompts to Show Your Work

The fear with generative AI is that it will replace jobs. A recent study by Accenture shows that 60% of workers are concerned AI will replace them. Although this is true for simple task-oriented knowledge worker jobs, it isn’t true for most professionals. However, after becoming a master prompter, that fear will subside. The next step is to show that generative AI is a tool by saving your prompts. This is necessary not only for ideation but also to show where in a product, service, or development your work shines and the generative AI’s stops.

For example, using the same prompt in Canva and Microsoft Designer doesn’t mean each will make the same picture. Saving what you prompted the generative AI to create or edit shows you’re comfortable prompting the generative AI as your assistant, proving it’s not your replacement.

The future of work depends on using generative AI every day. Embracing it as a new skill in your professional toolbelt will further increase your value as a professional. By becoming comfortable using generative AI as a master prompter and showing your work by saving your prompts, you’ll show that generative AI is your assistant, not your replacement.

All in all, generative AI isn’t a passing fad; it’s becoming the new normal, so save your prompts, show your work, and feel the fear of generative AI disappear.