Forget AGI. Small Businesses Need Artificial Micro Intelligence.

There is a lot of talk about progress toward AGI, artificial general intelligence. But the opportunity for real business owners today is AMI: Artificial Micro Intelligence.

AMI is a phrase I coined to help small and medium businesses start using AI to amplify their message. Rather than waiting for an AGI tool that can do it all, what microtasks can you automate to get fast, consistent results?

Micro Tasks, Big Impact

Take a tool dedicated to doing one task well, like creating stunning Airbnb descriptions. In our book business, we regularly create subtitles that amplify the title based on a winning formula we have. We have a prompt that helps generate ideas. When we release podcast episodes, each one needs a description. There are tools that take most of the heavy lifting away.

So what can you do in your business to take advantage of technology where it is today?

There are niche, off-the-shelf tools available. But if you need to write your own prompt, here's a simple framework to create a supercharged prompt you can reuse.

The RICE Framework

Role. Tell the prompt what its job is. Think of this as a short job description. "You're an expert [job title]. Your role is to [quick description]. Your specialist skills are [be specific on the areas you need it to shine]."

Instruction. Tell the prompt what you need. "In this task you will [be specific in the inputs and outputs you need]."

Context. Give the prompt some context as to where the task fits in the bigger process. Where is this coming from? Where does it go next? What's important to get right, and why?

Examples. Give the prompt some good examples. Include three sets of input and expected output. Structure helps the model learn the pattern fast.

Rather than waiting for an AGI tool that can do it all, pick a microtask, automate it, and get fast, consistent results.

There can be a lot more to prompting, but for today, pick a problem. Search for a tool. If there isn't one, use the RICE method to create a supercharged starter prompt.