What Is ChatGPT? And How Can It Help You Get Work Done?
ChatGPT, a chatbot created by OpenAI that launched late last year, has been making headlines and, in some cases, creating them.
CNET was recently busted for using the chatbot to generate dozens of entire feature stories. Turns out the bots were easy to spot: Some of the errors in the CNET articles were abhorrent (for example, an article about compound interest said a $10,000 deposit bearing 3% interest would earn $10,300; in fact, such a deposit would earn $300).
Still, the fact that a fairly reputable site like CNET is using a chatbot to write its feature stories is unnerving. Also unnerving is other news about ChatGPT — like that it passed a law school exam and can write malicious code.
Let’s take a look at what exactly ChatGPT is and, with a spirit of optimism (much like the one outfitting the investors pouring billions into ChatGPT), let’s explore how this technology could potentially help employees on the job.
What GPT Actually Is — and Isn’t
So what is ChatGPT, exactly?
“Chat GPT is one of the most recent and popular examples of generative AI,” said Tatevik Baghdasaryan, a content marketer with SuperAnnotate, a platform that helps companies build AI and ML models. “It’s a language processing model that can interact in a conversation, answer questions, admit its mistakes and serve as a real-time work assistant. ChatGPT is trained on a large dataset of text, which [comprises] a diverse range of sources such as books, articles, websites and more.”
ChatGPT produces very intelligent and human-sounding content in seconds. That said, it’s not perfect and it does require an actual human mind to review and make changes. CNET was using ChatGPT as a journalist and, presumably, an editor. It is neither.
“This is because any AI tool is built on a dataset that may not contain all the necessary information,” Baghdasaryan said. “For example, ChatGPT’s knowledge is limited to 2021, and the events that happened after are just not there. Secondly, these content suggestions may not resonate with your branding and writing style guide.
“So, overall, ChatGPT is great for idea generation, topic generation and many other tasks, but in no way should one copy and paste the AI-generated content and use it as it is. AI-generated content may harm your SEO score because Google can detect such content and penalize the website for it. It is publishing unique and valuable pieces rather than flooding the web with generated content for the sake of keywords.”
ChatGPT Can Help Job Seekers
But AI-generated content, when carefully reviewed and edited, does have a place in the world. One way we have already seen ChatGPT prove itself is as a tool for job seekers. People are using the service to write cover letters and resumes. Recruiters say they’re fine with it — as long as candidates edit and add their own voice to their job application materials.
“Individuals on the job hunt can use ChatGPT to help with their resumes and cover letters,” said Robin Diamond, CEO and founder of Fifth & Cor, a marketing and innovation company. “It can help create professional and well-written copy that people can use for their resumes and cover letters, which can save time and effort. They can also use ChatGPT to help with interviews. They can ask the AI sample questions, and the system will give sample answers and help practice other responses.”
Ways ChatGPT Helps Workers
ChatGPT is still very new, so the full extent to which it can help workers has not yet been shown. But there are a few ways in which ChatGPT is known to be useful:
- Brainstorming. “If you need some help brainstorming, ChatGPT can help,” said Marin Perez, a strategic digital marketer. “Just put in the problems you’re trying to solve and it can spit out decent thought starters. If you’re not an Excel or Sheets junkie but need some help with formulas and macros, just ask ChatGPT and it will give you what you need.”
- Language translation. “ChatGPT can be used to translate text from one language to another, helping employees communicate with customers and partners who speak different languages,” said Melissa Vincent, CMO at Hoff & Mazor, a mobile app development company.
- Email and document summarization. “ChatGPT can be used to summarize long emails, documents and reports,” Vincent said, “helping employees quickly understand the key points and make informed decisions.”
- Text completion. “ChatGPT can be used to complete text passages,” Vincent said, “helping employees save time when drafting emails, documents or other written materials.”
- Sentiment analysis. “ChatGPT can be used to analyze the sentiment of written text, such as customer reviews,” Vincent said, “helping employees gauge customer satisfaction and identify areas for improvement.”
ChatGPT Could Create, Not Destroy, Jobs
Not only will ChatGPT make some jobs easier and give people more time for creative thinking and problem solving, it could open doors to new jobs.
“Some people may be afraid of ChatGPT and other language generation models because they fear that the technology may take over jobs that are currently done by humans,” Vincent said. “This fear is understandable, as automation has historically led to job loss in certain industries; however, it is important to note that while some tasks may be automated new opportunities may also arise in areas such as data analysis, model development, maintenance and other areas that require human creativity and problem-solving skills.”
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