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Smart Services has been providing independent agents with proactive, fast, and expert technology services since 1991.

Lessons from a Talking Dinosaur (Just Not the One You’re Thinking Of)

Lessons from a Talking Dinosaur (Just Not the One You’re Thinking Of)

Toys are an essential part of our development as people, whether you’re talking about baby toys that teach color recognition and empathy, collaborative toys that teach sharing and teamwork, or creative toys that encourage imagination and outside-the-box thinking. Just imagine what the toys of the future will be able to accomplish… assuming, of course, that the security issues we’re currently wrestling with are dealt with appropriately.

Unfortunately, this hurdle still needs work to be cleared.

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AI Doesn’t Need to Replace Workers

AI Doesn’t Need to Replace Workers

Quantifying the impact of AI on employment is notoriously difficult because technology rarely replaces a job in its entirety. Instead, it tends to disassemble a role into its component tasks. While AI is exceptionally efficient at handling repetitive, data-heavy, or predictable processes, it struggles with the high-level reasoning and interpersonal nuances that define many professions.

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3 Ways Your Business Should Never Use Generative AI

3 Ways Your Business Should Never Use Generative AI

With the rise of generative AI infiltrating pretty much every sector of society, it’s no wonder that businesses are finding creative new ways to use it for their gain. However, you need to be especially careful when using generative AI in the workplace. Today, we want to cover three common no-no’s that your business should keep in mind as it navigates the wild landscape that is AI.

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How AI is Depicted in Horror Says a Lot About Us

How AI is Depicted in Horror Says a Lot About Us

The horror genre has always been a means of shining a light on society's fears and concerns, often using metaphor to convey its message. In the spirit of the holiday, let’s consider some of the films over the years that have used artificial intelligence to teach us lessons through the ever-so-effective format of fear.

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Your Small Business and AI

Your Small Business and AI

A significant and growing number of small businesses are either actively using AI tools or exploring their potential, motivated by the promise of increased efficiency, cost savings, and gaining a competitive edge.

It's an exciting movement, proving that AI isn't just for huge mega corporations. Small businesses are using AI for everything from generating marketing content and handling customer service inquiries with chatbots to analyzing customer data and automating back-office tasks. The goal is to compete faster and smarter.

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Hope Won't Keep You Safe

Hope Won't Keep You Safe

We wanted to take a minute to talk a little bit about something we all cherish: hope. Hope is a powerful force and it constantly propels us forward and can brighten even the darkest days. We hope for good health, happy families, and definitely that winning lottery ticket.

Unfortunately, hope is a terrible cybersecurity strategy.

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Turns Out, AI’s Information is Often Artificial, Too

Turns Out, AI’s Information is Often Artificial, Too

It isn’t uncommon for many people to make up an answer that they feel seems plausible if asked something they don’t have an answer to. It happens all the time.

As it turns out, this is a tendency that artificial intelligence has inherited from us.

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Can Smart Speakers Still Provide Value?

Can Smart Speakers Still Provide Value?

Smart speakers have been around for a while, but let’s be honest—they haven’t exactly changed the world. Sure, they’re great for playing music, setting timers, and answering random trivia questions, but beyond that? Not much has evolved. So, how did we get here, and what’s next? More importantly, can they actually be useful for businesses, or are they just another gadget collecting dust?

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Humans Can Outpace Automation in Some Situations

Humans Can Outpace Automation in Some Situations

Besides all of those people who are advocating for the scaling back or non-implementation of tools to save jobs, most people understand the benefit of automation when it makes sense. Not only do machines tend to do certain tasks more effectively, they never willingly take a day off. Unfortunately, for every task that needs to be completed less than half can be automated, and that number drops even further when you take into account everything a human does at their job. Today, there are very few jobs that can be fully automated; even as AI has begun to be used more for business. This week, we wanted to discuss why automation may not be the answer you are looking for and why training humans holds a lot of value.

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AI IT Support Can Free Up Technicians... At a Cost

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The big thing in business computing is AI, or artificial intelligence, and businesses are implementing it to solve a lot of repetitive problems that free up their employees to serve other roles. One such area is for IT support. But is it worth it to chat with a robot when something as important as IT is on the line?

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Automation Challenging Longstanding HR Norms

Automation Challenging Longstanding HR Norms

Human resources are a part of almost any business. That is because there are a lot of Is to dot and Ts to cross in any business. Some HR departments are better than others, but typically the HR department deals with most of the elements of the business that deal with, you guessed it, the human resources (employees). Today, the HR landscape is changing as businesses are now looking to automation to handle much of the heavy lifting. 

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Should AI Development Be Stopped? Experts Say So

Should AI Development Be Stopped? Experts Say So

It seems that you can’t turn your head nowadays without seeing artificial intelligence being incorporated into some software or platform. However, many leaders in the technology space have expressed their concerns about—as they put it—the “profound risks to society and humanity” that AI poses, outlined in an open letter. 

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What a Microsoft Study Says AI Can Do About Work

What a Microsoft Study Says AI Can Do About Work

With the release of the 2023 edition of their annual Work Trend Index report, dedicated to exploring the topic of Will AI Fix Work?, Microsoft took a deep dive into the impact that artificial intelligence will have on the workplace in the future. This report ultimately resulted in three major conclusions, which we felt we should help amplify and contextualize.

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One of Google’s Many Projects Gives Us a Look at Practical AI Usage

One of Google’s Many Projects Gives Us a Look at Practical AI Usage

While artificial intelligence is frequently hyped up to the point that it seems to be plucked from the realm of science fiction, its true applications are actually much more mundane. That being said, these applications are often the ones that show the most promise in terms of the value they have to offer society.

For instance, let’s consider the work that Google is doing through something called Project Green Light.

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Everything You Need to Know About Microsoft CoPilot for Business

Everything You Need to Know About Microsoft CoPilot for Business

AI has unquestionably emerged as the standout technology of the year, and it was only a matter of time before Microsoft entered the arena with its own enterprise-ready AI platform. The introduction of Microsoft CoPilot has sparked a fair amount of confusion and left many questions unanswered, so today our aim is to shed light on what CoPilot is and explain the value you can expect to get out of the new Microsoft AI.

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Artificial Intelligence is Only as Unbiased as Its Data

Artificial Intelligence is Only as Unbiased as Its Data

Over the past few years, artificial intelligence has become a bona fide buzzword amongst businesses of all sizes, with 97% of respondents to a Forbes survey seeing a potential benefit in some way, shape, or form. However, with it being integrated everywhere in our modern lives, it is important that we remember that AI is still a human invention, as as such, it is vulnerable to our own implicit biases.

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AI and Work in 2023 and Beyond: A Retrospective

AI and Work in 2023 and Beyond: A Retrospective

2023 was a banner year for artificial intelligence, with the technology exploding into the mainstream and being more accessible by the public than ever before. Let’s explore how what we’ve seen in the past year in terms of AI has changed things for workers and workplaces everywhere.

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Using AI to Dress Yourself Up for a Professional Selfie

Using AI to Dress Yourself Up for a Professional Selfie

While AI is far from perfect, I always love discovering ways that it can help do something mundane and speed up a workflow here or there. I’m no expert in Photoshop either, so if I need to edit something, I usually depend on someone with a little more experience, but this was a really neat trick I was able to do in just a few minutes!

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Why Clean Data Is Important for Backend Processes

Why Clean Data Is Important for Backend Processes

Businesses are constantly trying to find a way to best use their data. Whether it is creating a business intelligence strategy, integrating artificial intelligence, or for simple analytics, without having accurate, reliable data, the insights you derive can be misleading and end up costing you. That’s why it is important to know how to scrub or clean your data. Having access to clean data is essential for anyone involved in business intelligence or AI. Today, we will discuss the issue and give you a simple guide to help you get started.

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Benefits AI Brings to the Small Business

Benefits AI Brings to the Small Business

AI has become a major tool all throughout the modern economy. Businesses are using technology with built-in AI, and that’s because it improves operational efficiency. Let's take a look at some of the benefits small businesses can take advantage of with AI.

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