Halifax design agency owner shares how he uses artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to change the way people do things, with its use increasing in the workplace, school and even on personal devices through platforms like ChatGPT.
One person working with and benefiting from AI is Doug Belding, the owner of Halifax-based design agency DLB Creative.
Belding says the main way he uses AI is to understand his clients’ problems and what they are trying to create.
“Then kind of going through what tools are available out there for AI and customizing a system together of those tools for them to help them execute (it) more efficiently.”
Belding says his clients also don’t always have time to stay up-to-date with the latest in AI, or see what is coming down the road.
“That’s something I do to make sure that if a tool isn’t working for them, that we thought it might efficiently, effectively, in the beginning, we can swap it out for something else,” he says.
Belding provided a recent example of a small boutique design firm he worked with that was struggling with custom illustrations and photos.
“We were going through what their brand was, and also what their clients tend to like. So from that point we’d go into a tool, so like Midjourney, and really kind of work how we could make those photos look realistic,” he says.
“But do things interesting as well, like chose the type of people that we want in there, what their backgrounds are, or what their ethnicities are, what they’re doing in those photos, and also, too, you can determine what the shots look like based on if you have an understanding of photography as well.”
A recent survey by Leger suggests Canadians have mixed feelings about AI and Belding says he can understand why some people are hesitant or fearful of the technology.
“It’s a disruption, things are changing, I think it’s very interesting, and with that change a lot of great things can come from it as well,” he says.
“AI’s been with us for a bit – you think of Alexa, you think of Netflix, or YouTube, the things you like or tend to watch that’ll give you more things like that, so you’re training that AI, as an example, to kind of give you what you want.”
Belding says AI is just one of many tools available for people to use, but they need to “work with it.”
“You almost have to date it a bit and speak to it how you want it to speak back to you. And it’s an ongoing relationship, it’s not something that you just do once and it comes back perfectly,” he says.
AI can also be a timesaver for clients, Belding says, allowing them to build a repository of files so they don’t have to outsource them.
“If they needed it just for a quick back-and-forth with a client to get approval that takes away weeks of back-and-forth of like, once the client has time to see it they’ll say yes or no, and you could almost work succinctly together in a much smaller meeting and get to the end product much quicker.”
Overall, Belding believes AI can be a positive and helpful tool in the workplace.
“Right now, you see it in the medical field where it’s helping people, like physicians diagnose things faster, safety in vehicles, it’s helping farmers grow food, it really has a lot of applications,” he says.
Belding also offered tips for people wanting to be more informed when it comes to AI.
“I think being curious and then talking to people about it and asking about it,” he says. “There are a lot of tools out there, so it can feel very overwhelming for someone like myself who is very interested and in there, it is very overwhelming to know what’s out there, but really just don’t be shy about it, ask about it, play around with it, it’s available.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING BMO clients face outages in Canada, U.S. following data centre fire alarm
Bank of Montreal clients on both sides of the border Thursday morning have reported outages with banking services. BMO said its technical team is investigating.
Drive one of these vehicles? You may pay 37 per cent more than average insurance costs due to thefts
As the number of auto theft incidents rises in Canada, so have insurance premiums for drivers, even the ones whose vehicles aren't stolen.
B.C. mortgage broker ran $270-million Ponzi scheme, then fled Canada, bankruptcy trustee says
The trustee appointed to manage the bankruptcies of a Victoria mortgage company and its owner has concluded that they committed "numerous offences" and operated as a "massive Ponzi scheme."
'I'm not wealthy': Ontario senior shocked she owes $40,000 in capital gains after gifting land
An Ontario senior who wanted to help her daughter and grandson eventually own homes one day decided to give them two lots on her property as a gift—but she didn’t know it would eventually cost her tens of thousands of dollars.
Want to turn off Meta AI? You can't - but there are some workarounds
If you use Facebook, WhatsApp or Instagram, you've probably noticed a new character pop up answering search queries or eagerly offering tidbits of information in your feeds, with varying degrees of accuracy.
opinion Trump's Republicans falling far behind in fundraising, infrastructure
In his latest column for CTVNews.ca, Washington political analyst Eric Ham explains how and why Republicans -- up and down the ballot -- are falling far behind Democrats in both fundraising and infrastructure.
Canadians are eyeing moves to these cities for more affordable housing
Faced with elevated housing prices, half of Canadians in the country's largest cities are considering moving to places with more affordable housing.
Canadians' interest in buying EVs fades as barriers, concerns remain: J.D. Power
A new study finds fewer Canadians say they're interested in buying an electric vehicle as concerns remain about limited driving ranges, high prices and a lack of charging stations.
McDonald's says US$18 Big Mac meal was an 'exception' and their prices haven't risen that much
McDonald’s is fighting back against viral tweets and media reports that it says have exaggerated its price increases.