BY DARLENE FISKE

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS COMING FOR US . And there ’ s nothing we can do to stop it . You can choose to ignore it , or you can play the game and learn how to extract valuable information and understand just how it can affect your business of spa operations .

What drives me crazy is the “ artificial ” side of things . Is that really a photo of a beach in Bali that I must visit ? Or is it fake ? How can you tell ?

Did Katy Perry actually attend the Met Gala , as her red carpet photo ( at right ) would suggest ? Nope . It was fake .

What is real ? Do we care ? I do . And I think your customers do too .

TAKE AI FOR A SPIN Right now , go to ChatGPT and ask it a question . Ask : What are the top spas to visit in my city ? Then ask it how it came up with this list . What you ’ ll learn from that one prompt may forever change your marketing strategies .

Photos used to be “ proof positive .” Now they ’ re just as likely to be filtered fabrications .

ChatGPT openly identifies its database is not current .

“ The training data for the current version of ChatGPT , based on the GPT-4 architecture , includes information available up to September 2021 . This means that its knowledge base does not include events , developments or new information that emerged after that date .”

What does that mean for your spa ? To start , AI is reading and taking data about your business from sources that are at least a few years old . Of course , a database update will occur eventually . What will it find about your spa ? It is crucial for you to be garnering positive media placements , accumulating awards and watching your online reviews closely , keeping low scores at bay and high praise in the forefront .

PRACTICE REAL CUSTOMER SERVICE You also need to be communicating one on one with your customers . Why ? Because that ’ s REAL . And human interactions will have higher value in the coming years .

26 PULSE n JULY / AUGUST 2024