If you’ve attended various industry events this year, you’ve heard a lot about Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the feed and grain industry. It’s fascinating to hear how AI will eventually run facilities based on an organization’s goals, reach new heights in predictive maintenance and transform inventory management systems, just to name a few.
But automation experts agree AI isn’t quite there yet with optimizing feed and grain operations to the extent visionaries are predicting. Some of the more practical AI presentations focus on how it can improve our lives in less groundbreaking, everyday ways — because before we can run with AI in business, we must first walk.
The best pathway to begin this journey is by downloading free AI chatbot apps, according to Jake Joraanstad, CEO of Bushel and ag technology expert. At the National Grain and Feed Association’s Annual Convention, he shared how he frequently uses chatbots to inspire attendees to experiment with AI and start working smarter, not harder.
Joraanstad recommended ChatGPT or Grok 3.0 and said no training or technical skills are required. These were developed to have natural human-language conversations, making them simple to interact with — as easy as typing a question.
Some practical prompts include asking it to draft an email, summarize market reports or complex documents or generate talking points for a customer call. More advanced uses could include entering conversation notes from multiple customers to identify trends or recurring problems and to seek solutions.
It is important to note, however, that you should never share confidential information with free chatbot apps. Check your organization’s policy about what critical data cannot be shared with AI. To overcome this, companies can build custom, secure models trained on their own business data. Another word of caution is to check the accuracy of all responses before sharing or acting on them. While some tools offer links to cited sources, not all do.
Whether your business is already investing in AI or is just beginning to investigate it, experts advise to start practicing with simple tasks now. Doing so will give you a major competitive advantage, and ultimately, more time on your hands.
