What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is a large language model that is trained on whatever information it has access to. In other words, it is a computer that can answer prompts by drawing on knowledge obtained from a variety of online sources. ChatGPT falls into the broader category of generative artificial intelligence (AI), which means it can quickly create things (in ChatGPT’s case, text) based on user commands. In the past, if you wanted to know the answer to a question, it was up to you to do research. Now, you can simply ask ChatGPT the question you need answered (for example, “What are some child-friendly activities to do in Toronto?”), or tell it to do something for you (for example, “Plan me a child-friendly 10-day itinerary for a trip to Toronto”), and it will produce what you asked right away. While ChatGPT’s most compelling use case is in situations like this, some business owners use ChatGPT to write their websites, blog posts, social media, e-mails, and even to determine financials or business plans.
There is growing concern in several industries about the evolving skill sets of generative AI, such as its ability to create images, music, video, and software. These concerns stem from a fear of labour replacement, specifically of creative professionals. In the case of ChatGPT, writers are most impacted given its ability to generate hundreds of words of passable content in seconds—something that would take even the most skilled writers many hours to replicate.
The quality of the work produced by generative AI tools such as ChatGPT is also often called into question. A trained eye can immediately spot when something was created with generative AI, but to the average person, the difference is almost indistinguishable. This is especially true if some form of human oversight has been involved with the production of the work in question. Unedited, most generative AI outputs are riddled with errors and imperfections, but under human supervision and editing, the process of using generative AI may go unnoticed if errors are corrected.
Should you use ChatGPT for business functions?
If you’re in a field that deals with lots of confidential or sensitive information, you absolutely should not use ChatGPT for business functions, given the system’s ability to retain and use information for other people. You will essentially be feeding the machine confidential information with no guarantee that it remains private. If you’re in a field that does not routinely deal with high-value or high-security information, ChatGPT can automate less important tasks, but it’s still important to make sure you double-check anything it outputs for you before releasing it to the public.
When to use ChatGPT for business
ChatGPT should be used for your business when you want to save money or time and the risks of using it are very low. A good example of its use in business is for writing real estate listings. In the past, real estate agents would have to write listings themselves. Not being trained writers, the real estate agent would have listings featuring run-on sentences and small grammatical errors. This ultimately didn’t matter, though: If the house is nice enough, the price is right, and it’s in a good enough location, the particulars of the listing become trivial as buyers will still line up to see it in person. Now with ChatGPT, that same real estate agent can input key information about the house and have a good enough listing written in under five seconds.
ChatGPT can also help immensely with personal tasks, such as answering e-mails or planning events. Think of it as your personal assistant, able to make light work of menial tasks that would take a human much longer to complete. It is still important to double- and even triple-check what ChatGPT outputs, however. There have been high-profile incidents of businesses using verbatim outputs from ChatGPT in public-facing situations, and even various cases where job candidates have ChatGPT write their entire resume or cover letter. ChatGPT can also write advertisements for you and social media posts, but beware, authenticity and quality reign supreme in these realms and you might be better off not cutting corners. In contexts like this, ChatGPT can do a passable job, but certainly not an exceptional job.
When not to use ChatGPT for business
Anything involving sensitive or proprietary information should not be inputted to ChatGPT. This is because anything you input, and any feedback you subsequently give it, will be used to “teach” ChatGPT. Therefore, you shouldn’t expect any level of privacy when using it. You should also think twice about using ChatGPT for customer service, as a human touch is usually more effective (and more appreciated) by customers. Anything where context is important is also not a suitable use case for ChatGPT. For example, if you ask it to write a social media post about your summer sale, the output will be generic and could apply to any other business. You will either need to give it more information in your prompt or heavily edit what it outputs to match your situation. In this case, you may just be better off writing the social media post yourself instead of wasting time tinkering in hopes of getting a better result. ChatGPT should also not be used in cases with high stakes, such as writing legal documents or anything a professional with highly technical knowledge would otherwise write.
ChatGPT can be a powerful tool, and just like any other tool, it can cause problems in the wrong hands. Using it for personal or low-risk tasks can save you time and brainpower, but trusting it with important information is never a good idea. No matter the context, if you decide to use it for business tasks, be sure to proofread anything it outputs for you.
