Think about the tools you’ve used throughout your life to navigate your day to day. As a 90’s kid, I was here before cell phones, streaming services, keyless cars, or even home computers. I still remember having to go to the public library to access the internet for my school projects. In fact, I remember my dad looking at me, as I was using Internet Explorer on a public library computer to research a paper, and saying to me, “We would have killed for this when I was a kid. Everything we looked up had to be done in an encyclopedia.”

Could you imagine a world like that now? Like so many people, my job relies entirely on the internet and being able to produce consistent, fast, quality work from a computer. If you’re reading this, chances are you can relate.

Technology has continued to advance rapidly, and we’ve entered another historically significant era: the era of AI. Regardless of your awareness of how deep and wide AI has penetrated everyday life, you are likely already using it every day. So let’s talk about it.

In your personal life, if you use Spotify and have had music suggested to you, congratulations, you’ve used AI. Waze and Google Maps are also common use cases, as they use AI through their community powered platforms to provide live traffic updates and navigation tips. If you use social media and have ever been tempted by ads to purchase something that seems so “you”, you have been the target of an AI-powered algorithm. Amazon’s home assistant, Alexa, uses AI to understand spoken commands and improve its responses. Finally, if you’ve dabbled in ChatGPT to capitalize on your own understanding of finance, fitness routines, recipes, or creative endeavors, you’ve adopted AI in your everyday life.

At work, if your team uses Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or Google Workspace, you use AI regularly. In Teams and Zoom, the functionality is housed in meeting summaries, action item tracking, and auto-generated meeting transcripts. In the Google Workspace, your docs and emails can be summarized instantly. AI is now integrated into these platforms to optimize your workflows and capitalize on your productivity. The word most often used is “augmented.” You are still behind the wheel, but can now drive more efficiently and accurately.

AI is not about replacing people; it is about helping people do their jobs better. The key is knowing how to prompt it well. Talk to it like you would a person. A good AI prompt is:

For instance, people regularly use foundational LLMs like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini to create monthly budgets, plan weekly meals, or map out an itinerary for an international trip.

In TrunkText, the AI-powered Q&A agent from Trunk Tools, you can prompt the agent to answer just about anything related to the data in your construction project documents. A few examples of recent prompts other users have written:

If you need additional help getting started with Trunk Tools, especially if you’re unsure of what all you can ask the TrunkText agent to help you learn or find, check out the support article here.