It's Not All Slop

“AI slop” is a wonderfully unflattering expression for poor content generated by artificial intelligence.

We recognise the symptoms. The article that sounds terribly pleased with itself but has little to say. The suspiciously polished image of a management team apparently delighted to be attending another meeting. The PDF that incorporates a futuristic molar 🙄

We are becoming quicker at spotting this stuff, and understandably less patient with it.

However, I would hate to see our irritation with poor content blind us to the quality that AI can produce.

Two examples from my work.

A client was preparing for their first CQC inspection visit in some years. I asked my trained ChatGPT assistant to help me create a preparatory guide.

I explained the situation, what the client needed and how I wanted the material presented. The result was excellent: a document that helped organise a substantial subject into something the practice could work with.

Then came a different challenge: explaining how a practice might move associates from sharing dental plan revenue to receiving a fee for each item of care delivered.

That requires careful thought. There are financial consequences for the practice and the associate, as well as conversations that need handling properly.

Again, I provided a detailed brief. Again, the quality of the resulting explanation was outstanding.

Both documents offered practical help with challenges my clients were facing.

I also use ChatGPT every day to help analyse clients’ management accounts, examine financial performance and support my advice on potential business sales and purchases.

The time saved is phenomenal. Anyone who has spent an afternoon working through financial information will appreciate the value of reaching the useful questions sooner.

As our latest workshop tour unfolds, I'm helping clients to create branded protocols live in the conference room - over 80 from the first 2 of 7 locations.

There is something important about how I use it.

My AI-assistant has been supplied with my material: the accumulated experience, methods and intellectual property developed over decades of working with dental businesses.

I bring the context. I explain what matters. I ask further questions. The responsibility for the advice remains mine.

There is still work involved in producing something worthwhile. Much of it happens before the answer appears.

That matters, because the ease of generating an answer can make us forget how much thought a worthwhile question requires.

A vague request can produce a confident answer. Confidence, as most experienced business owners know, is not a reliable measure of competence.

For the sake of argument, suppose 80% of AI content is slop and 20% is valuable. Those are illustrative proportions; I have no research establishing them. I would still be interested in the 20%.

Besides, leave your television on for 24 hours and consider how much of the output deserves your attention. Apply the same test to any other media channel.

Human authorship has never guaranteed quality. We were perfectly capable of producing rubbish before we acquired assistance.

The useful habit is discernment: knowing what deserves our attention, checking what matters and recognising something that helps.

I shall continue to ignore the slop and make good use of the quality. There is plenty of work to be done.