Real-World AI Applications

Introduction

Generative AI is already embedded in products you use daily. Knowing the patterns helps you spot opportunities to apply AI in your own work.

Beginner analogy: Just like 'mobile-first' became standard in 2010, 'AI-native' is becoming standard now — every SaaS product gets a copilot, every search box gets semantic understanding.

Understanding the topic

Core concepts to understand:

• Copilots — GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Microsoft 365 Copilot.
• Customer support — Intercom Fin, Klarna, Zendesk AI.
• Search & Q&A — Perplexity, You.com, Notion AI.
• Content generation — Jasper, Copy.ai, Notion AI Writer.
• Code review & refactoring — Cursor, Aider, Continue.
• Voice — ElevenLabs, OpenAI Realtime, Whisper transcription.
• Image & video — Midjourney, DALL·E, Runway, Sora.
• Enterprise agents — automating ops, finance, HR workflows.

Syntax reference

Visual workflow / architecture:

Industry          AI Use Case
─────────────────────────────────────────
Banking      →    Fraud detection chat agents
Healthcare   →    Clinical note summarisation
Legal        →    Contract analysis (Harvey AI)
Education    →    Khanmigo tutoring
E-commerce   →    Personalised recommendations
Dev tools    →    Copilot, Cursor, code review
Customer ops →    24/7 AI agents (Klarna)
Marketing    →    Jasper, Copy.ai content
Media        →    Image/video generation

Real-world use

Klarna reported its AI assistant handles work equivalent to 700 full-time agents. Shopify generates product descriptions with GPT. Stripe uses LLMs for support triage. Duolingo's GPT-4 roleplay feature became a top retention driver.

Best practices

• Pick high-volume, low-risk workflows first (support triage, content drafting).
• Always keep a human in the loop for high-stakes decisions.
• Measure ROI: time saved, cost reduced, conversion lifted.

Hands-on exercise

Interview preparation — practice these questions:

• Q1. Name three production AI products and what model they likely use.
• Q2. What's a 'copilot' pattern?
• Q3. Where should AI not be used?