This last week I was sitting at my desk, surrounded by what felt like a sea of information. Wave upon wave was crashing over me, economic video summaries, government announcements, regulator announcements, interest rate changes, vulnerability trend changes, and company whitepapers. All of this before I got into any areas of my own research or videos.
And, darn that YouTube algorithm too, trying to distract me with cooking, rollercoaster and cat videos… it is nothing, if not brutally honest, about highlighting what you really find interesting, tempting me away (noodles for dinner any one)!
Yet, despite working hard at it, keeping up with all this information can increasingly be a real challenge.
Every day we are being asked to digest ever more information… even though the number of hours in the day remains stubbornly fixed (according to the laws of the universe).
And, it seems, we only seem to have a couple of options to cram more in
- Extending our working hours – more minutes to look at more stuff, or
- Increase our attention or focus – try to get more in the brain per minute…
It is a classic rate/volume problem.
With the advent of digital media and tools it also feels like it is getting worse. Welcome to the new age of information overload.
Fighting fire with fire
Now I do recognise that I am also partially guilty of creating this swirling vortex of information… I may have published the odd video, post or two of my own on LinkedIn in my time!
However, I have also found a further potential solution. The use of emerging AI-powered large language models to help curate and summarise the content for me. (I am even using it to summarise my own content for readers too… it is great)
Like magic, with its help, I can now quickly extract key bullets and highlights… the infographic for the 2020s… one wave of the magic AI wand and 1 hours 30min is suddenly condensed into 20 bullets.
So I feel I can now tackle a new surge of information without feeling so overwhelmed…. and it got me thinking.
What else can we do for customers? Customers like us are probably feeling overwhelmed too. How can we use these tools to grab their attention, cut through the noise and reach customers in the most efficient manner?
Customer Attention Support
Personalization and relevance are becoming crucial tools in this battle for attention. Delivering tailored content that resonates can be powerful to allow them to consume the information they need efficiently and effortlessly, helping them to retain important knowledge too.
The future role of AI and large language models in this process cannot really be understated.
By leveraging this technology, it is possible to create personalized experiences, ensuring information is aligned with personal interests, delivered in a manner to grab the attention and do this at scale.
Imagine a world where every inbox is carefully curated. As businesses we need to ensure that it is our message that is picked and highlighted as relevant – we need to speak directly in the language of each customer.
We are only at the start, but this is a reason that this wave of AI is feeling increasingly important in this regard.
A Quest for Balance
And a final thought, as we navigate this new wave of information overload, we also mustn’t lose sight of a bigger picture too.
In our pursuit of streamlining information and maximizing productivity, it is also important to remember there is a delicate balance between knowledge and wisdom.
It is all too easy to get caught up in the frenzy of synthesizing, filtering, and digesting information. Doing more with less, filling in our time generate more output.
It is however also important to pause and reflect on the deeper meaning behind it all too (a post for another time… the brilliance of boredom).
So as we strive to make our communications more efficient and our lives more streamlined, we also need to make time for this curiosity, introspection, and understanding too.
Used for good, AI can help us create this time… we just need to make sure we spend the gains we make wisely.
Have a good week everyone.
