AI was the theme of Great British Brands 2024, an annual publication about luxury brands that I edit. Several of the CEOs interviewed for the edition felt unsure about how best to adopt AI, though most felt pressure to do so. But now, with the lifting of restrictions and the dramatic emergence of Deep Seek, evading AI looks like the quick route to oblivion. I was one of those who grumbled about how time-consuming it was to learn a new skill until I met up with Emma Bleasdale. American-born Bleasdale was a financial trainer at JP Morgan Chase before leaving to bring up her two sons (now successful entrepreneurs). After an art history degree at the Open University, she became an art consultant and was working for Orlando Rock, chairman of Christie’s, when Covid hit. 

‘They got rid of everyone over 50 and started digitising their resources,’ says Bleasdale.  ‘I’d been hoping to head up the Modern art department, but it merged with the Contemporary department which already had a head, so I was toast.’ Casting around, she did an AI course at Oxford’s Saïd Business School. ‘I’d always had a penchant for trends and was the first to have a Palm, BlackBerry or the latest gadget, so I quickly drank the AI Kool-Aid,’ she says.  ‘I’m now a full-on evangelist spreading the love.’ After a stint with General Purpose training, teaching AI skills to business, Bleasdale set up on her own. I went for a session at her London flat.

‘The first mistake is treating AI like a search engine,’ Bleasdale begins. ‘Instead, view it as a person, a super-powered assistant. Let it get to know you. The more specifically you prompt, the more it helps you.’ She uses a CARE rule (Context, Ask, Results, Examples): ‘Give it context and background information, ask very precisely for what you need, state how you want the results presented and attach examples to show how you like things.’

We start by building my ChatGPT profile, telling it what I do and what I want from it. Then she shows me how it helped her practise for job interviews by acting as interviewer and critiquing her answers and performance. 

She asked it to come up with some motivational strategies by creating a panel consisting of Elon Musk, Barack Obama and Mel Robbins, the podcast host, motivational speaker and bestselling author of books like The Let Them Theory and The 5 Second Rule. She’d then asked the panel to discuss how they’d motivate individuals and produce a bullet-point list of their recommendations and a transcript and recording of the conversation. I was astonished by what it could do. We listened to the discussion, after which the panel’s conclusions were first, to inspire with a clear, meaningful vision so people feel they are working towards something significant beyond themselves; second, to create structures and routines that reinforce progress, build connections and foster a sense of belonging; and finally, use immediate action triggers, like Mel Robbins’s 5 Second Rule, to overcome hesitation and keep up momentum. 

Caroline Ward, a California-certified lawyer and investor living in London, attended one of Bleasdale’s courses. ‘Emma taught us so well how the results you get from AI depend on how you address it,’ she says. ‘Always be precise, never wishy-washy. Emma showed her own searches to show that AI is far more nuanced than a search engine like Google. It’s like a language or musical instrument – you can’t learn it in one go, but the more you use it, the more you understand its iterations. 

‘Instead of it taking over my life, I now see it enhancing it and offering huge opportunities. I have three children living abroad and now AI can create my travel itineraries. We spend so much effort planning our lives’ first two acts, but not so much Act Three, which many women are facing, single by choice and financially independent. AI can help us do that without being restricted to a traditionally prescribed work environment.’

Bleasdale is also devising workshops and online classes for the City Women Network, after giving a training session to president, Yvette Forrester, and individual membership chair, Kate O’Brien. Forrester is also a governance and inclusion consultant for Howlett Brown, having joined from the Bank of New York Mellon. ‘I was very curious about how AI can streamline a lot of our daily dross,’ Forrester says. ‘We were so excited by how accessible Emma made it – it was like AI for dummies and no longer a great big black hole. I sit on several boards and have seen particularly older male board members finding it hard to go paperless and shift to iPads. It’s so important to grapple with AI or get left behind. Besides, Emma showed me how to ask it for an itinerary for a trip to Paris.’  

‘There are downsides,’ warns Bleasdale. ‘AI was built mostly by young white males, so mirrors society’s basis and sexism, racism and ageism are rife. Plus, the energy needed to power it is horrendous. Greenland would provide the necessary land for the enormous data centres needed, so it’s no surprise that governments are concerned.’  

However, she adds, ‘Just as the invention of the printing press meant we started reading, we necessarily have to attain AI skills right this minute or flounder, because we are on the cusp of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.’  

For further information, contact emmableasdale@gmail.com