ChatGPT is an advanced conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI) model developed by OpenAI. An AI model is a program or algorithm that utilizes a set of data that enables it to recognize certain patterns. ChatGPT is a Natural Language Processing (NLP) model that was developed to recognize and respond to natural language with human-like text, based on the input you give it.
In English, that means ChatGPT is an interactive tool that can interpret your questions or comments and respond as if it’s having a conversation with you. And it’s impressive in terms of the coherent, relevant responses it will give. How it works is less important than what it can do and why you should care.
The main reason business leaders should know something about this is because it is getting a lot of attention and it’s not going away. There are many things this model can do, and some, perhaps, it should not be allowed or entrusted to do.
For example, students have already found that it can write essays for college level courses – in mere seconds. That trend has become so pervasive that OpenAI, the research lab that created it, has already built a tool that can determine if a piece of content is AI-generated or human-generated with a good degree of accuracy (though it is not perfect either).
Why should business leaders care about what students are doing? Well, they might be applying for a job with you one day, but more importantly, students are not the only ones using it. Some content writers and content marketing agencies are using it. Smart content writers are not turning in exactly what ChatGPT creates though.
The model has access to an enormous amount of data from which it can produce responses to comments, questions or requests, even a request to write a blog post. But it is not perfect, so the content that is produced needs to be reviewed and checked for accuracy and validity. Some of the mistakes it has been caught making are so basic that the average person would know it was inaccurate. When inaccurate or false information is shared by a company, it can – and will – reflect on your brand.
ChatGPT is also being used to perform some workplace tasks, like writing or debugging code. This can sound like a great alternative to a potentially expensive bill from a (human) coder, but it’s not. Again, the reason here is the possibility of an inaccurate determination by the tool. In the hands of a person who is trained in coding, ChatGPT can certainly shorten the time it takes to write code or debug broken code. But without someone who can verify the program works as planned and integrate it with other technology, you may find it was just a waste of time.
ChatGPT was created to facilitate conversations with other people. That means it can likely be integrated with an online customer service platform or your website. As it stands now, access to the model is limited, and the website becomes easily overwhelmed and lockouts are common. OpenAI just announced a subscription plan that will give you greater access and perhaps earlier access to the most up-to-date features. But, you need to remember that it is still in Beta.
Our best advice? Proceed with caution, but certainly test it out to see what it does and where a tool such as this might fit in your overall strategy. We are committed to learning more about ways small and medium businesses can market better, and will be posting more information about ChatGPT and AI enabled marketing in the future.
We are also planning at least one, complimentary panel discussion with other business consultants to help business leaders understand the power of tools like this. It will be virtual, and we will notify people on our “Insiders” list as more information becomes available. Want to get those notifications to your inbox? Sign up here.
