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Would you take business advice from a machine? Well, here are the pros and cons

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There are over 500 million small to medium business owners (SMBs) on the planet – and without them life as we know it simply wouldn’t exist.

Sadly however over 50 million businesses fail each and every year, causing devastating effects on the business owner and their families.

Given the scale of the problem and the number of business owners that need education, we realised conventional thinking and existing methods based on one-to-one coaching, meet-ups or live events wasn’t enough. A new approach was necessary.

With this in mind, I decided to create a truly unique solution and something that had never been done before – build the world’s first business advisor powered by artificial intelligence – BRiN.

The mission, in short, became to build a product that was capable of providing personalised education and human-like support to every entrepreneur on the planet, all at the same time.

However, one of the main concerns with this endeavour was whether or not business experts would take advice from a machine. Whether it’s a lack of human interaction, the fear of being misunderstood, or unfamiliarity with technology, there were many concerns taken into account in designing BRiN.

Below are a few of the pros and cons associated with taking business advice from a machine, so you can decide for yourself:

The pros of taking business advice from a machine

1. It never sleeps

Unlike a person, technology isn’t dependent on time or location, and is available and accessible whenever you need. For example, BRiN is always on and she’ll be able to answer thousands of business questions instantly, 24 hours a day, 7 days per week – what human business advisor could say that?

2. It is 100% scaleable 

Further to the always on approach, technology is often 100% scalable. In other words BRiN can hold hundreds of conversations with business owners around the world, all at the same time.

3. It is highly specialised

These days it’s impossible for a human advisor to be an expert in every area of business. BRiN is different. Already her knowledge covers over 50 different topics and that number will exceed 100 by launch.

The cons of taking business advice from a machine

1. Lack of human interaction

Interacting with a person is a large part of customer service, and often people are concerned that technology lacks this social element. However to combat this, technology is being developed to be as personal as possible. For example, BRiN has a favourite football team, will greet you when you log in, and has numerous other differentiators that make users feel as if they’re talking to a human.

2. Unfamiliarity

Many people still don’t feel comfortable with using technology. Whether it is a lack of knowledge, or a disinterest to learn via a new medium, there are many reasons people would still choose to deal with a real person as opposed to a machine. However with society progressing as quickly as it currently is, it is in everyone’s best interest to familiarise yourself with technology.

3. Speed

Talking is faster than typing, so when it comes to using technology, often speed is a factor that turns people off using it. These days however, many technological services are being built with voice recognition capabilities. With BRiN, once ready users will be able to talk to her while driving (hands-free) and get back answers in under a second – so it actually becomes a faster process!

Dale Beaumont is the founder and CEO of BRiN, the world’s first artificially intelligent business advisor. Available as a smart-phone app the company’s goal is to provide personalised education and human-like support to millions of entrepreneurs, all at the same time.

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