Welcome to Milestone Moments, the show where
we explore the journeys that lead to success.
I'm Sheila Slick, your host and founder of Five
Milestones. In every episode, we will bring you
insights from the minds of entrepreneurs, leaders
and experts who will share not just their expertise,
but the milestone moments that have reshaped
their journeys and led to significant achievements.
So if you're looking for motivation, you're in
the right place. Subscribe now and discover the
milestones that mark the path to success. Welcome
to another episode of Milestone Moments in Business
and Leadership. I'm Sheila Slick, your host.
And today, my special guest from Japan is Annabelle
Sugimoto. She is a multilingual AI consultant
and educator. Annabelle holds a master's degree
in linguistics and computer science, and she
has many years of experience in AI and NLP. She
uses her skills to bridge the gap between technical
AI concepts and practical business solutions.
Annabelle creates training initiatives and AI
-driven strategies that empower businesses to
embrace digital transformation. She basically
makes artificial intelligence approachable for
all. Welcome to the show, Annabelle. Thank you
very much, Celia. Thank you for having me. Thank
you for the very kind introduction. So I'm thrilled
to actually be able to have you on the show and
talk about... AI. So you have a master's degree
in linguistics. Maybe you can help explain that
to me. I totally understand that with computer
science, you know, you have the ability to program.
So how did you get to where you are today with
AI if AI is still kind of new, right? It's just
disrupting. Yeah, that's the thing. It's disrupting.
growing very naturally but that's what I've tried
to do I began studying linguistics and moved
into computer science later in the degree and
from there went into AI roles kind of basic things
that connected linguistics and AI and moved from
there trying to evolve with the skills I had
so it's brought me to combining teaching experience
with AI experience, some consulting experience,
and now here I am consulting with AI. So linguistics,
can you help me understand that? It's the study
of languages. It's a very broad field. I was
working in historical linguistics, actually,
of Old English, Beowulf, that kind of thing.
But I shifted. I felt like I wasn't moving forward
there. The natural language processing really
inspired me to move forward. So it's human language
and now computer language, AI language, correct?
Yes, exactly, and finding the middle ground.
Now help me understand NLP. So NLP stands for
natural language processing, and that's what
the bridge is there. Human languages also helping
computers to understand human languages and to
thought back at us. OK, so now that I understand
you're a pro with computers, but you also are
a pro with human language. And today you're bridging
that gap. So what are the top three challenges
that you see? individuals, whether they're professionals
or small businesses, are having with this adaptation
to AI? So I'd say the top three ones involve
misconceptions, really. So the idea that AI will
replace jobs really frightens people. It puts
them off trying to involve it in any way. When
really it's there to enhance. What we do already
to automate repetitive tasks and free up time
for the important things like strategy, which
small businesses really need to focus on. That's
their focus as they grow. And AI can help free
up time for that. Second, the idea that AI is
only for big tech companies. It helps small businesses
save time. And it increases efficiency, which
is so important when you've not got huge groups
of people to throw time and money at pointless
tasks. And finally, the idea that you need a
whole tech team to begin with AI. There are no
code tools which exist. It's so accessible if
you take the right approach. So the takeaway
would be that small businesses can... Begin by
finding small pain points and addressing those,
finding some confidence with AI, and then growing
and building on that. What are three solutions
that someone should immediately implement in
their business? Well, I'd say the first solution
is about... bridging the AI literacy gap. What
I do is not about turning everyone into a programmer.
It's about helping people to understand what
AI is and just getting a basic foundation in
that. On a really simple level, what it is and
what it does is a great first step. The next
step would be to find what the pain points are.
specifically within your team again that's something
i help with in consultations finding out what
are the repetitive tasks the time -consuming
things and making an effort to find what tools
you can find to making an effort to find which
tools are necessary for your team and not pushing
tech for the sake of it but finding the necessary
items A final thing is beginning slowly. Sowing
things in to companies across the board, automating
everything. The biggest thing is that it's scary.
If you're not comfortable with it, it's really
off -putting and it can feel like jobs are being
replaced and all of those big scary phrases that
are out there across LinkedIn. No one's going
to have a job in two years' time. It's just not
true, but you need to get comfortable with it
to understand that. What will happen if we don't
get out of our comfort zones and begin to adapt
some of these technologies in our businesses?
And how quickly do we need to do so? Well, the
timeline is beyond my expertise. Things change
so quickly that it could be... Next week, it
could be 10 years. No one really knows because
things are exponentially changing and evolving.
That's what you also need to do. Teams and businesses
need to evolve with AI. And instead of fearing
the change, using it as an opportunity to redefine
what they do and what their roles are within
the company. Finding the gap. where things can
be used and applying AI. It's so necessary. And
those repetitive tasks will be done by people
who will feel like they're robots already. And
it's not necessary. Those people doing unnecessary
things can go off and really use their skills
in unique ways. They won't be replaced in that
sense. They won't lose a job entirely. So they
really need to adapt. businesses can't just watch
it happen. Industries are being completely changed
and shifted. And you can't avoid that, unfortunately.
I'm seeing it a lot being used in sales, right?
We've got these automated bots that will reply
on your behalf. Sometimes I do feel you're able
to spot them, right? We're not there yet. Customer
service. I normally am trying to talk to agent,
talk to human agent, because they're not quite
there yet. And so it becomes more frustrating
from the end user. I have also seen it in accounting,
where you no longer have to handwrite all of
your invoices and your expenses. That can all
be automated from the very moment that you send
out. an estimate. And I've seen that workflow
and that process and I've implemented some of
these. But beyond that, what other examples can
you give me where you think you can implement
and take that step today simply by starting with
this one task that you can automate? There are
some really simple things depending on what you
need within your team. Things like creating meeting
notes, creating simple content for a web page
or a social media. Small things that people without
coding can just plug into ChatGPT or Gemini or
Claude, some of these new things that are coming
out and see what it splits out. I'd say another
one which works very well is organizing the workflow.
There are things like Zapier, which can help
organize the workflow and sort out those repetitive
tasks, which don't need any training at all.
It's generative AI, but not in the same way people
think necessarily. It's more about helping with
workflow, being a tool that assists people. It's
something that people can use rather than something
which is affecting the people. I pronounce it
Zapier, not Zapier. I'd have to look. Well, sincerely,
you can probably correct me if I'm saying it
wrong, but that's actually the first time I wanted
to explore my first automation was setting up
some zaps. The problem was that what I had wanted
to do, the output required some tweaks. So instead
of just saying, if this happens and that happens.
I needed to then take a few steps to clean up
the text before it happened. And those conditional
statements that we learn back when we're in school
in math, if this happens, then that happens,
is part of being able to use these apps. And
I don't know if it's not in your comfort zone,
what would you say would be a good tool? to start
getting comfortable using software like Zapier.
That is the thing. The reason people like me
exist is partly to introduce AI and introduce
some of those concepts of conditional formatting
and how to phrase what you want to get the right
thing back. Putting in the props is... It's something
humans need to do. It's why there needs to be
someone on this end. But it's really important
and has a big effect on what comes out at the
end of it. And a little bit of training or research
into how they work and in which areas the AI
is a little bit stupid, basically. It's not as...
genius as people would make out. It's a little
bit stupid. You need to help it out a little
bit. First things, how it wants to hear it. I
agree. I describe it like a calculator. We can
give you a scientific calculator. We can give
you a 99 set calculator, but the output's only
going to be as good as the input. If you put
two plus two, but you meant to put in two times
two, you're going to get two completely different
answers. And it's fascinating when I see, you
know, how people put in different prompts. So
even though you can tell the chat GPT you're
going to act like my teacher or my consultant,
answer these questions, it really doesn't dig
down because it doesn't know a lot of the terminology
perhaps that that professional has. So I think
we still have that advantage. You know, that
output will really depend on the quality of the
input. Yeah, that's really important. I've written
a couple of blog posts on my website to do with
different types of fonts and how they can achieve
different things. And it's really interesting
to look into. It's fascinating. The same as talking
to a person in the sense that if you phrase something
just a little bit differently. they'll come out
with a different answer. So before we wrap this
up, can you think of three AI concepts that we
should all be familiar with? Maybe those intro
concepts that you introduced to the people that
you help? Okay, so if we begin with pinpointing
the repetitive tasks, it's a really important
place to start finding areas that are really
prime for automation. Then, as I mentioned earlier,
the idea of starting small and expanding just
in one small area, like the meeting notes or
content creation, to get comfortable. And then
investing in literacy is a first step that it
takes some impetus to decide that it's important.
But investing to help the business and the team
members understand and get some confidence. and
apply the AI strategically. So what is your next
milestone? Well, you've been focusing on self
-leadership in this series. And in terms of self
-leadership, what I've been doing recently is
just stopping and saying, I'm doing something
I really enjoy, and I can continue with the way
I'm working now. So I'm enjoying just continuing
to bridge the gap between... AI and businesses.
And the next goal is expanding on that consulting
work, making AI literacy accessible for businesses
of all sizes. And I've been exploring developing
some structured technical training programs,
but that's in the works. I prefer working more
in a more niche way, individual to the teams.
Yes, I have been focusing a lot on the self -leadership.
So throughout my life, I feel that at different
phases, different stages of my life, I've done
complete transformations. Whether it's been in
an industry, as an entrepreneur, I have worked
in three or four different industries. And I
even learned how to code at 36. And I didn't
go back to school to learn coding, but I certainly
was hitting myself over the head because I thought,
wow, I did business. We've been entrepreneurs
for over four generations. That's what I knew.
But maybe I should have studied the future, which
was computer science. But sometimes you can say
you don't know what you don't know. And that
ignited a fire in me to leverage technology.
That's why I absolutely. love what you're doing
with the education because when you're able to
simplify these complex topics, you're really
empowering people to not fear that technology
and to say, yeah, I can do it. It's in my control.
I can grasp the AI. I just don't know where it's
going to be in 10 years and what I need to do
to prepare for it. And so self -leadership means
that Instead of letting the external forces forge
your new path, that it's within you. You're able
to control your life and do what you need to
do to make sure that you stay relevant. And that
is personally, professionally, and in business.
So with the self -leadership, I myself have been
for a few months revisiting. everything I've
done, bringing my pillars together. And I really
think that in these unprecedented times of change,
that we're going to have to lead ourselves first
and better, not only to just survive, but to
thrive. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And it sounds
like you're coming from a great place of understanding
concept. It's the same as what I did. I began
working in a corporate role with AI. And every
few months I was told, no, you need to make this
in a different language. No, this needs to be
adapted and we don't have the money for it. So
go to the higher ups and explain in depth what
this precise tool does and try to get them to
give us money to work more on it. And half the
time I just didn't understand what I was doing.
I was putting in... words and numbers and hoping
I got the right thing out. It was working on
a surface level, but it just went so quickly
and changed too much that I felt the really important
thing was that if everyone just knew the basic
concepts of AI, we could communicate between
the tech teams and the higher -ups. The professionals
in the boardroom would know what's going on.
Everyone could understand each other. And then
it's for programmers still to do the programming,
but everyone can have a good discussion around
it. And people in different departments don't
need to understand everything. But if they have
the concepts, then it can really help everyone
thrive. You offer your workshops and your training
online so people can connect with you. I work
almost exclusively online. But platforms like
Zoom or Google Meets or Microsoft Teams, any
of these different platforms, whatever works
best. And you can book a consultation on my website
if you're curious about, hey, how AI can help
your team. Initial consultations are important.
It's the first step. And they're right there
on my website. I will leave your website information
in the description so that anyone that wants
to reach out to Annabelle can do so. And I want
to thank you, Annabelle, for joining me today
and taking time out of your day or night to help
educate us on the concepts of AI. Thank you.
Thank you very much for having me. It's an honor
to be on. And thank you all for tuning in to
another episode of Milestone Moments in Business
and Leadership. And my key takeaway out of this
episode is embrace change.