Beyond chatbots? Designing new interfaces for Generative AI
Professional services firms using Generative AI appears to be the topic of the day. McKinsey announced Lilli, a chatbot that "serves up information, insights, data, plans, and even recommends the most applicable internal experts for consulting projects, all based on more than 100,000 documents and interview transcripts." Global law firm Allens announced “Airlie”, its own enterprise-grade implementation of ChatGPT.
The excitement and buzz surrounding these tools has made me think that I should share some of the exciting ways that Nous Group has been using Generative AI. Our experimentation with Generative AI includes an enterprise-grade implementation of ChatGPT, but has extended into productivity tools for consulting staff that go beyond the chat interface.
Nous has prototyped two internal productivity tools - DawnGPT and Diana. DawnGPT is a natural language interface to a database. Diana is a logic tree generation tool for structured problem solving.
DawnGPT is an interface to Data Assets Warehouse for Nous (DAWN), a data warehouse that brings together proprietary data and public information to facilitate rapid analysis for consulting teams on projects. DAWN is a SQL database that consultants can already access through SQL, R and Power BI.
DawnGPT provides an intuitive interface to our Data Assets Warehouse (DAWN). It seamlessly translates natural language into SQL, allowing consultants both a means to access data and an avenue to hone their SQL skills. The results can then be visualised interactively or as a PowerPoint. The consultant can also generate a narrative based on those results.
Diana is a tool for generating logic trees. At its core, a logic tree is an analytical tool that breaks down a question or problem into its constituent parts. It is essentially a visual representation of structured thinking, with each branch representing a subset or component of the main question.
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Diana uses Generative AI to give consulting staff a head start on projects. They are not the end solution, but the beginning of a creative problem-solving process.
Generative AI can be more than chat bots. The success of ChatGPT has anchored a lot of thinking and solutions using Generative AI in 'chatbots'. This potentially limits its adoption to super-users who are adept and interested in 'prompt engineering'.
Thinking beyond a chat interface has the potential to scale the productivity impact of Generative AI. This requires a deep understanding of a user's tasks and how Generative AI can overcome limiters to the ideal experience of that task.
Please get in touch with me or another member of Nous' Digital, Design and Data practice to discuss how we can move beyond conventional applications of Generative AI and reimagine the tools of tomorrow.
Generative AI is not just another buzzword; it is becoming increasingly exciting to see its practical applications extend beyond chatbots. As we delve deeper into the capabilities of generative AI, it raises the question of how these tools might reshape the landscape of professional services. The potential for an AI-driven revolution in consulting is on the horizon, and it is something worth contemplating. With the ability of generative AI to analyze vast amounts of data, identify patterns, and generate insights, consultants can benefit from faster and more accurate decision-making processes. This technology has the potential to enhance problem-solving approaches, provide innovative solutions, and even automate certain tasks. However, it is crucial to strike a balance between the human expertise and the power of AI, as the human touch and critical thinking will always remain valuable in consulting. Nonetheless, the integration of generative AI in the consulting industry could bring about significant advancements, ultimately revolutionizing the way professionals provide services and adding immense value to their clients.
On the topic of alternative interfaces to Generative AI, check out this episode (https://another-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes/unbundling-chatgpt) of "Another Podcast" by Benedict Evans and Toni Cowan-Brown
Diana sounds awesome
Nice one, keen to know what's under the hood of dawnGPT!
Interesting post! I miss your FFF newsletter