AI for Beginners: 8 Exciting Use Cases for All Skill Levels

One of the biggest misconceptions that prevents people from experimenting with artificial intelligence (AI) is the belief that you need to be a tech expert to benefit from it.

Of course, it’s true that AI fundamentals can be confusing. With AI concepts like “deep learning,” “neural networks,” and “natural language processing” thrown around in every news column and blog, it’s easy to see why some people think AI principles are a bit beyond their capabilities.

But one of the most exciting parts about AI is how accessible it is for beginners. You don’t need to work for NASA to start using AI to help with everyday tasks, both in your personal life and for your business. There are loads of options available for people with no technical expertise.

That’s why we’ve put together this guide to explain and showcase some useful AI applications for absolute beginners who are looking to get started with this new technology.

Ever find yourself facing the dreaded blank page? AI writing tools will help you save time so you can spend more hours in your day ticking off your to-do list.

These large language models (LLMs) use natural language processing (NLP), which means they can understand the meaning behind your text or speech input in natural language with no technical knowledge required. They then leverage generative AI to deliver an appropriate response, such as writing out a thank you note tailored for a friend or creating an AI sales pitch based on your customer’s LinkedIn profile.

Even if you’d rather keep your word choices firmly in your hands, AI can be a great companion for brainstorming. If you need to come up with five talking points for a meeting, for instance, or you simply need some tips on how to wrap up an email, you can input your query into an LLM and have it give you multiple options to spark your own creativity.

One of the most exciting (and rapidly growing) avenues of generative AI models is image generation. Tools like DALL-E 3 let you input text describing the kind of image you’d like created. The solutions then use natural language processing to process your query and quickly create an appropriate image, which you can then refine using further prompts.

This can be a game-changer for time-strapped content generators who want to create images for social media or long-form blogs.

One of the interesting parts about these AI algorithms is that they’re getting better with time. Machine learning means they can improve their skills based on past experiences. If they misjudge your prompt, they’ll refine their approach to do better next time.

One of the most useful applications for AI in everyday life is quickly summarising long-form content. For instance, you can ask ChatGPT to collate the key takeaways from a hefty blog or provide a 100-word summary of lengthy meeting notes.

Slack also has powerful AI capabilities that will automatically distil insights from your Slack channels — from key conversations to trends — helping you stay informed without keeping tabs on the chat around the clock.

As an aside, some tools like Google Lens will also scan your handwritten notes and convert them into digital text. A huge plus when you’d rather not get your laptop out during a lengthy meeting.

Google’s Gemini recently integrated with Gmail for paid Google Workspace (G Suite) accounts, introducing AI capabilities to summarise emails, draft responses, and organise information. This is just one of many examples of how AI applications are becoming integrated into all parts of everyday life, helping users increase their productivity with AI assistants.

Tools like Grammarly use natural language processing and machine learning to spot mistakes in written text and then recommend improvements in real-time. For instance, let's say you’ve missed a comma or accidentally used US English instead of Australian English — Grammarly will understand the context and pick up any mistakes to help you write error-free content consistently.

This is helpful if you’re drafting a message to a friend. But in business contexts, having an AI assistant that checks over your marketing materials and corporate emails can be a lifesaver when you want to portray a professional image — plus at the same time, this boosts your productivity.

You don’t need a qualification in web development to start coding when you have support from AI. Tools like ChatGPT are excellent at writing code based on natural language inputs. You can even ask it to check your existing code to find out why it isn’t working as intended. All of this can be done with little to no knowledge about the technicalities of software development, making it a useful tool for anyone, including a project manager, looking to streamline workflows.

Here’s an extra tidbit. If you want to create your own AI models, you don’t need to be an expert in computer science, either. Many popular solutions like Agentforce will let you create and deploy your own custom AI agents with no coding expertise. Simply drag-and-drop the widgets you want, and you can set up a model to provide recommendations or even automate customer interactions.

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a time-consuming process at the best of times. But AI SEO tools could have a solution for that.

AI-powered tools like SurferSEO analyse search trends and suggest possible keywords while keeping in mind user intent. They’ll also optimise your existing content by suggesting recommended keyword placements. All of this removes the busy work of manually finding relevant keywords yourself.

You can also use content marketing AI tools to generate things like alt texts and captions for images and video, another way to save a few minutes on your workflow.

You might think that creating engaging customer experiences with AI is out of the question for an AI beginner, but think again. In fact, modern AI solutions can help to automate this process on your behalf with minimal input.

It all starts with getting to know your data structures. While manually sorting through all of your siloed information to find insights can be tricky, solutions like Data Cloud can help to automate that process without you having to lift a finger. This brings together all of the data you own that’s scattered across your point-of-sale systems and spreadsheets; no data science degree required. In fact, data analytics tools can help you organise and analyse your data more effectively.

From there, AI solutions can use this 360-degree view of data to help with everything from data analysis to creating personalised content for each of your target audiences. Solutions like Agentforce can even talk to your customers directly and provide personalised answers to their questions in real time.

Take the plumbing and HVAC supply shop Reece as an example. The brand has always aimed to provide the best possible service to its loyal audience since it started as a one-man band over a hundred years ago. But as the business grew into a globally-recognised brand, connecting with customers on a personal level became more challenging.

Reece started its AI transformation by unifying its data with Salesforce. They then deployed Sales Cloud for its out-of-the-box capabilities. This meant Reece, who previously had no experience with AI systems, could gradually build a network of customer information so that every manager in every store had the information needed to provide an exceptional experience.

With AI-powered recommendations from Marketing Cloud, Reece is implementing personalised marketing campaigns that deliver the right messages to the right people based on data. This enables the brand to maintain the customer-centric service its audience values.

AI has the tendency to be a bit intimidating for new users, but it doesn’t have to be. You can learn a lot just by experimenting with the different platforms available to you. From summarisers and tools for automating tasks to all-in-one writing solutions, there’s guaranteed to be something that’ll help you save time and improve efficiency in your personal or professional life.

Ready to take the first steps on your AI learning path and start using AI to your advantage? Salesforce Artificial Intelligence will help you get a competitive edge without needing to be an expert on all things artificial intelligence.

Want to learn more about AI and machine learning algorithms and how to use them? AI courses from Trailhead can teach you the in-demand AI skills you need to grow your career or your business. Begin your AI learning journey to understand how AI works and how to use it for success, all for free.