If I had asked Steve Lerch, he probably would have told me to write this article using AI. Or at least let it produce the initial draft for me to edit.

So I did. But not the article you’re about to read—this one is written by a human. If you’re curious what the AI version would have looked like, check out that version in the sidebar at the end of this article.

In addition to drafting an article, here’s a non-comprehensive list of other things Lerch says AI can do for you: draft emails, write social media posts, brainstorm marketing campaigns, do competitive analysis of other businesses, suggest ways to improve processes or create more efficiency, or generate guides to teach you something new.

“As technology changes, we’re creating new opportunities for all of us in the way we work and do our daily tasks. But one of the biggest questions is where do you start?” Lerch, president of Story Arc Consulting, said while presenting. “AI is one of the most open ended, flexible technologies in the world that can do so many different things. One of the best things you can do for the industry and for your company is to start getting comfortable with AI on an individual level.”

Lerch presented a handful of ways convenience retailers can start using AI now and integrate it into their businesses to save time, create efficiency and leverage the world’s fastest-growing technology.

“To begin to scratch the surface of the independent things you can do with generative AI today, I break it down into four things it’s really good at—it’s a fantastic tool for brainstorming and developing new ideas; simplifying information and complex data; creating new things from scratch; and improving things you’ve already created,” said Lerch.

Using a search engine is like having a plumber send you a letter about how to fix your broken sink. Using AI is like having the plumber stand behind you and watch you fix the sink.”

Brainstorm

We’ve all planned a vacation—and potentially been overwhelmed by crafting the perfect itinerary that checks all of our boxes. Asking AI to plan a trip for you in a specific location is a great example of its basic brainstorming capabilities, Lerch said. By asking ChatGPT “help me plan a vacation to Kapalua Bay in Maui, Hawaii” Lerch got information about where to stay, things to do in the area, dining suggestions, what to pack, transportation tips for getting around the island and other activity options.

“What AI does so well is go beyond traditional data sets and traditional search engine results. It has an ability to sort of understand human nature and context, and then organizes information for us,” he said. “It doesn’t just give a list of ideas for education but structures them in a logical sense.”

Brainstorming prompts can be applied to any aspect of a job or the convenience business. Lerch suggested prompts such as:

Uploading your job description and asking for 10 ways to start using AI to make you faster, better, more creative and more efficient at your job.

Expanding on ideas. If AI returns “do competitor content audits,” you can then ask “who are five competitors I should be auditing?” or “what are other ways we can learn from our competition?”

Letting AI guide you through brainstorming by having it ask you specific questions and allowing you to provide more detail about what you’re looking for. “AI isn’t a one-way street. The brainstorming can go both ways,” said Lerch.

“AI to me is like having Albert Einstein tied up in your basement. You can ask him what 4 + 4 is and he’ll tell you the answer. But what a waste of Albert Einstein—you’re not asking him the right questions,” said Lerch. “AI is limited by our creativity and our curiosity. So ask it for more. It has the ability to go far beyond what we expect from traditional machines and produce very human, nuanced ideas.”

Simplify

Let’s say that you have an ice cream machine in your store that needs to be cleaned. Your employee could ask AI to provide step-by-step instructions for a cleaning, along with do’s and don’ts and other tips, and can be super specific about the make and model information of the machine. You could continue to ask AI to be more specific and elaborate on individual steps or customize the prompt with options like “redo this guide for someone who has never worked with any sort of equipment before.”

“AI is not finding the best available resource that has the closest answer to your question. It creates the protocol. It generates it from scratch. It can give you customized instructions for anything you want to learn built exactly for what you want,” Lerch said. “Using a search engine is like having a plumber send you a letter about how to fix your broken sink. Using AI is like having the plumber stand behind you and watch you fix the sink.”

Create

One of the best ways to use generative AI is to, well ... generate. AI can be used to help draft copy for email marketing campaigns, generate social media posts, write press releases or blog posts, draft internal memos, create images and graphics and more.

Lerch said the goal isn’t necessarily to have AI do all the work for you, but to make your life easier and help you do tasks faster. “In seconds, something that I maybe would have obsessed over and taken too long to produce can now be done just like that.”

In an example, he asked AI to create 12 social media posts for Loop Neighborhood Markets—one for each month of the year that was seasonally relevant and specific to the company’s products and business. It returned drafts like “New year, new goals! Grab a fresh fruit cup or a protein bar from Loop to kickstart your healthy habits,” for January or “August heat got you down? Grab a perfectly chilled Loop Iced Coffee or refreshing iced tea to power through the day,” for the summer.

“It returned 12 options in 15-20 seconds. I could have also improved them by giving it the company website, information about target audience, background on the brand or examples of previous posts,” said Lerch.

An important note to keep in mind: While AI continues to improve every day, it’s also not perfect. “AI will make mistakes,” said Lerch. Sometimes the same tool that produces something pretty spot on in seconds can also produce a “monstrosity of errors” when you ask it for something different. “But your misses can also be corrected 60 seconds later. These tools are only getting better.”

Improve

An easy task for AI: Give it something and ask it to make it better. “Ask it to refine it. Make it more concise. Make it shorter. Give it a different tone,” suggested Lerch.

“When we think of innovation in AI, we think of it as going above and beyond and doing a lot of extra things. But everything I’ve talked about in this presentation exists today—it’s out there and most of it is free,” said Lerch. “Don’t think of these as things that you can use as a bonus or addition, because if the rest of the folks in this room—your co-workers, your competition—use these things, then you’re not just not gaining, you’re losing by not trying this stuff.”