MC Explains | What does conversational AI like ChatGPT mean for businesses?

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In the last two explainers, we discussed how ChatGPT works and the underlying GPT technology.

Now that we understand a little bit more about conversational AI, we have to answer another question. How exactly are businesses planning to use it?

What are the potential use cases for ChatGPT?

At the recently held Microsoft Future Ready Technology Summit, Sandeep Alur, director of the Microsoft Technology Center, demonstrated a use case for ChatGPT in auto insurance claims.

As Analytics India Mag reported, Alur demonstrated the conversational bot conversing with customers to help them with insurance claims. It can ask relevant questions for context and decide whether to approve or reject the claims.

This is just one example, of course. Due to the conversational nature of the bot, it fits right in customer service applications.

Sure, you might ask yourself - don't we already have enough bots in customer care? We do but think about it, when was the last time you talked to a customer care bot and walked away satisfied?

The current bots are extremely limited in how they operate and rely on pre-determined questions for context. This will obviously lead to frustration if your query is outside of the boundaries of the questions presented.

ChatGPT is not limited by these boundaries. It can derive context from any question you ask it if it has enough data within the system to support that answer. This leads to more human-like conversations.

Another use case scenario is using the bot to create marketing reports or using it to beef up social media promotions.

It has uses in healthcare as well, from tracking your medications to translating prescriptions with bad handwriting to make them more legible.

This will, somewhat controversially, allow organisations to reduce personnel costs.

Okay. But what about the blowback from professionals in the field? 

New York City schools in the United States have banned the use of the AI bot in schools due to rising fears of academic cheating.

It makes sense if you think about it. You don't want students using the AI tool to generate essays for term papers.

The sudden rise of the tool has educators scrambling to establish new policies on how it should be used.

The issue is compounded when you realise that the tool is still prone to mistakes and can generate plausible-sounding human-like text which is inaccurate.

Despite this, some educators believe that the bot can be an indispensable educational tool. While it may hamper "critical-thinking and problem-solving skills," it can still be used for students who struggle with the language.

It can break down their sentences and give them suggestions and pointers to improve their writing.

Similarly, ChatGPT can be an excellent tool for authors. It can summarise what they wrote or help them pen rough scenarios that can be edited further. Even filmmakers can benefit from it.

Like all AI-based tools, in the wrong hands, it can be detrimental. But we need to look at the bigger picture. ChatGPT can be great for small to medium size businesses helping them save costs.

ChatGPT can enhance our experiences in various industries, and it isn't a question of when because the tool is already here. The question we need to ask is, what now? The ball is in our court now.