by VP of Communications and professional Author, Araminta S. Matthews, MFA, GCDF, DC, SrID, Consultant, Owner-Operator of HIVE-Wise,

Araminta is a professional author and lead author of the recent article, Pay Attention to the Chatbot Behind the Curtain when AI 'Is No Place Like Home': A Framework and Toolkit for Integrating Critical Thinking & Information Literacy in Educational & Professional Studies (freely available in the peer-reviewed journal, Advances in Online Education with a free subscription with Henry Stewart Publications, here).

Generative AI has been around for a long time, but it seems like it's only become a subject of conversation in recent months. Suddenly, everyone is talking about Large Language Model chatbots and their impact on the world. Most of these dialogues seem to focus on fear of AI taking over our work, or people getting lazy and using AI to cheat or do work for them when their own sweat and rigor is well-warranted (like in a classroom or drafting a screenplay with powerful human emotions at the epicenter of the storyline).

Whether AI concerns you is frankly, irrelevant, because the bottom line is that AI is (and has been) in every person's pocket, located in many living rooms ready to operate with a voice-ordered command, or just the first thing a person sees when asking a question of a search engine. AI is unavoidable, so why not embrace the many ways AI can make our lives easier? This list, adapted from the work in the article and toolkit listed above, is designed to help Maine professionals use AI to improve efficiency, streamline workflows, and foster innovation. By harnessing the power of AI, employees across various sectors can elevate their productivity and achieve more in less time--as long as we remember a few basic rules of the game.

AI is based on an algorithm designed to deliver what is statistically likely to be true (not what is actually true), meaning that you can ask AI to generate an answer to the question "Are 2 pounds of feathers heavier than 1 pound of lead?" and AI can get it wrong for months because it is statistically more likely to be asked about the density or mass of those two objects (a feather or lead) than the irrefutable weight of 2 pounds to a single pound.

AI does not yet provide accurate or credible sources for the content it curates into the answers to the questions we ask of it. This means we cannot yet reliably determine that the data it gives us is true, factual, or real. What's more, because AI is a bit dodgy about its source material, we likewise cannot tell if what AI generates for us is perhaps unintended copyright infringement. As they say, buyer beware--or in this case, AI-generator, be careful not to plagiarize.

And lastly, just as with any other media you might reference in work you produce, AI-generated material must also be cited. Given how you can't be sure your AI-generated content is someone else's potential Intellectual Property as indicated above, it's also just in your best interest to clearly indicate when you've used AI to create text, design an outline, or generate an image you plan to use in your work.

Below are 15 practical ways generative AI can enhance productivity for Maine's workforce.

1. Create and Triage a Good To-Do List:

One thing AI is very good at is ordering and sequencing content based on frequency (and just popularity) of content it has analyzed. If you are faced with a long to-do list at work, consider feeding everything you have into a tool like Gemini or ChatGPT and ask it to organize and triage your task list. Be sure to read it and adjust it with your own judgment before implementing, of course!

2. Personalized Customer Support:

One thing AI is particularly good at is analyzing the "patterns" of people's behavior. As such, AI-powered chatbots can be used as entry-level virtual assistants to manage basic customer inquiries, providing instant responses 24/7. This reduces the workload on customer service teams while maintaining a high level of client satisfaction. Just remember--there is no replacement for human interaction.

3. Summarizing Meeting Notes:

Instead of manually writing meeting minutes, AI tools can transcribe and summarize meetings in real-time, capturing key points and action items efficiently. With a few quick touch-ups, a meeting can be succinctly turned into a set of clear action-items for attendees along with a list of events that occurred during the session.

4. Improve Your Decision Making:

Generative AI is programmed to work with enormous data sets, so data-modeling is perhaps one of its strongest capabilities. Improve your decision-making and feasibility-analysis by using AI to help generate data-driven scenarios, simulations, or predictive models regarding your potential outcomes, risks, or results. Just feed the AI tool the information you have and ask it what is the most statistically viable solution to your problem.

5. Help Interpret the Language of Something a Little Wordy:

Generative AI is pretty good at simplifying language. Ever read an email or article and think, "Wow, this is really complicated, and I'm not clear on what I just read?" Why not ask AI to simplify things for you. Write a prompt akin to "Simplify the following article or email into language appropriate for a fourth grade reading level to help ensure clear understanding of nuances" and then paste in the complicated material you are seeking to understand. Just remember to cross-reference with the original material to make sure it's close to accurate.

6. Enhanced Creativity:

As long as the creative person is planning to produce the final product on her own, AI can be very helpful in that classic of all problems--breaking writer's block! Creative professionals can use generative AI for brainstorming and ideation. AI-generated suggestions for ad campaigns, product names, or marketing strategies can spark new and innovative ideas. Logos or tag lines can emerge from AI-support, and outlines or creative ideas to solve problems can be quickly generated--just be sure you analyze them yourself before implementing any.

7. Translation and Localization:

In Maine's increasingly diverse work environment, AI tools like Google Translate can instantly translate documents, emails, or web content, allowing for smoother communication with global partners. It is very important to remember that AI doesn't understand nuanced human language, so be careful in translations to check for the "untranslatable" concepts of another language (like the French concept of "ennui" or the German idea of "schadenfreude").

8. Writing Code and Debugging:

Ever develop a website using CSS or HTML? Ever have to create a database with MySQL or write a Python script? Any language used to make a computer perform a task or look a certain way is not only for a computer, but perhaps even best done by a computer. Generative AI tools like GitHub Copilot or even the Stacks generated by ChatGPT can assist developers by writing code snippets, detecting errors, and suggesting improvements, which can dramatically reduce time spent in the coding and developing process. In 2025, most web and app developers start with a preset and build from there--few code/script from scratch anymore.

Incorporating generative AI into daily operations is no longer a luxury but a necessity in today’s fast-paced work environment. Maine's employees can benefit significantly from the enhanced efficiency, creativity, and accuracy that these AI tools bring to the table. By adopting these technologies, businesses as well as professional individuals of every variety can not only improve  productivity but also stay competitive in an ever-evolving marketplace. Just remember to use AI within its appropriate context and succeed, exceed, and proceed swimmingly!

(original content by Araminta S. Matthews, 27 March, 2025, 6:33PM EST. Copyright to author. All rights reserved. Permission to use and reuse within all Maine-ATD publications and resources).