Welcome to Applying AI
A short introduction and primer on what I'm trying to do here.
I remember my first conversation about generative AI back in early December 2022. During our annual house holiday party - boozy punch flowing, mulled cider in the air - I overheard two friends talking about this “ChatGPT AI thing.” Huh? They were equal parts impressed, baffled, and horrified that this new technology was now available to anyone in the world. Whatever it was, it seemed like a genuine breakthrough. Like the world had just shifted a little.
After a fun (if a bit hazy) evening, I pulled up my laptop the next morning and tried ChatGPT-3.5 out for myself. Wow. I was in awe - the conversations that it generated with me were fascinating and insightful and often… puzzling? It was weird, creative, and undeniably useful. This was going to be a big deal. And as luck would have it, my employer (Microsoft) was at the center of it all.
Over the following months, I dove in - maxing out my daily limits on GPT, experimenting with Bing Chat and Claude, exploring AI tools, and subscribing to just about every newsletter that I could find. The more I learned, the more I saw how much potential this technology held.
Fast forward two years, and even with the breakneck pace of AI progress, it feels like we’re still just scratching the surface. AI technology has evolved dramatically since it first arrived on the scene and ChatGPT-3.5 seems almost quaint by today’s standards. AIs can now create hyper-realistic images and videos from text, interact with voice and real-time video, and execute complex logic. You can even download powerful open-source models for free onto your standard laptop. It’s a lot of buzz… and yet, it seems that many people are still just starting to learn and understand what it can actually do for them. What I hear most frequently when I talk ad nauseum about AI to people is “OK Adam, sounds cool, but what do I do with it?”
At the heart of it, that’s what this blog is about - understanding what’s possible and exploring how to meaningfully integrate it into our lives, together. It’s taken me time to wrap my head around this tech to the point that AI is starting to feel like a natural extension of my work and life. But I also know that we’re all still just getting started, and tech updates aren’t slowing down. Let’s dive in together and explore the opportunities ahead.
Welcome to the club!
This blog/newsletter aims to make widely available AI technology to life - together with you, our dear readers. Whether you are trying out gen AI tools for the first time or dabbling as an early enthusiast (can anyone really be expert yet?), this space is all about practical applications and hands-on exercises to help you integrate AI into your work and life.
Even if AI innovation paused overnight, I believe it will take society another 5-10 years to full embrace the tools available today. The goal of this publication is to help bridge that gap a bit. There’s no shortage of AI news out there, and you’ll find less of that here. This space is focused on simplifying the noise and diving straight into real-world applications that you can try and learn from now.
Who am I? My name is Adam Schau and I have a background in entrepreneurship, management, and helping people adopt and adapt to new technologies. I work at Microsoft in our Modern Work business where tools like Copilot are reshaping the way we work and collaborate. I call the Washington, DC area home and spend my free time cooking, cocktailing, swimming, swinging kettlebells, and chasing my little 3yo around (who makes a great impromptu bell).
Come join the fun! The water is warm and this AI stuff isn’t going to learn itself. I’ll do my best to make it a meaningful and enjoyable use of your time.
