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The rise of accessible generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools is quickly transforming  fields as users find innovative use cases. During his last year at Pace Mike Derasmo ’24, who just graduated with his BBA in Global Marketing Management, decided to explore this new technology and incorporate it into class projects by creating custom chat bots. 

OpenAI’s Chat GPT platform has been a frontrunner in the AI conversation, breaking the record for the fastest online platform to reach one million users, achieving the benchmark in under five days. (, which took two years to reach one million!) 

Many, like Mike, saw the immense potential of Chat GPT and jumped at the opportunity to explore its capabilities.  "Once Chat GPT came out, and I saw how people were using it, I realized this was something that can solve anything, if you set it up correctly,” Mike said. “I immediately saw the opportunities for businesses. I knew that it could help me start my own business and set me apart from others in the job market if I got an early advantage.”

Once Chat GPT came out, and I saw how people were using it, I realized this was something that can solve anything, if you set it up correctly.

Mike first used Chat GPT to help with Pace’s Animal Advocacy Clinic, an experiential course where students directly lobby on issues of animal and wildlife welfare. Mike created a bot that could assist in the research to support these arguments, serving as a fast-paced database for the students as they prepared their lobbying efforts. He used it in particular when the class appealed to New York State Senator Pete Harckham about Senate Bill S9069, which would restrict anticoagulant pesticide in New York, using the bot to review their research and other data to better advocate for the bill.

During the process of building the bot, Mike realized he could find other uses for the bot. He got the chance to test this out in his Digital Marketing class in the spring, when the class had acted as marketing consultants for local small businesses. Mike’s team worked with Twenty Sided Store, a board game store and event space, offering new strategies for their social media presence and website. 

 I knew that it could help me start my own business and set me apart from others in the job market if I got an early advantage.

Twenty Sided Helper, another custom bot, was Mike’s solution to bolster their marketing. Not only could his team use the bot to get deeper insights into the business for the project, but the tool could potentially even be used by the company going forward. He demonstrated for the class and the business owners how his bot could quickly identify customer engagement across social media platforms, discover product trends based on sales, and more. “You could even have it look at competitors and see what they’re doing and use it to help develop a plan on how to do the same things while retaining your own identity,” explains Mike.

As an early adopter of generative AI, Mike’s advice to other students interested in learning more is to just start using the tools. “Get into it and hit roadblocks,” he says. “Once you solve how to get past those roadblocks, you’ll be ahead of a lot of people in your industry.”

I can apply all the work I’m doing now into the professional world.

Post-graduation, Mike is looking forward to taking these practical applications of AI into his future career. “I want to own my own business one day. I can apply all the work I’m doing now into the professional world,” he says. “I think modern AI programs are amongst the coolest innovations of all time, as they can solve just about anything if you ask it properly.”