For many, ChatGPT has become a looming threat on the horizon. A mythical creature ready to swoop down and gobble up our jobs.
But is there any truth to that? And what will be the impact on the workplace?
What does ChatGPT mean for writers?
The most obvious thing that springs to mind is ChatGPT's impact on writing jobs. As we all know, ChatGPT can write essays, blogs, and even plausible-sounding articles, but is that enough to replace human writing?
Think about it, is ChatGPT creative? It is the one thing that differentiates AI from real humans. ChatGPT isn't any different.
It follows a specific pattern when it comes to writing and will punch out incredibly similar content with minor details changed. It adheres to a formula which makes it less unique than creative writing from real humans.
But you may ask, what about non-creative fields? Marketing, news or announcements?
Well, for starters, ChatGPT does not have access to the internet, which means its database is limited to what it has learned prior.
This limitation means that the AI is out of the loop regarding current events, meaning news writers and journalists do not need to worry. At least for now.
The one area where ChatGPT can potentially excel is routine work, like maintaining databases or creating synopses for meetings or even basic advertisement pitches.
While ChatGPT can achieve a lot in writing, it still isn't capable enough to replace human writers. What it can do is automate repetitive tasks.
How will sales be affected?
Like writing, the sales department has a lot of embedded administrative work. ChatGPT can make it a lot easier by automating some of these processes.
ChatGPT can give you a rough guideline for actual pitches, but you still have to tweak the content to get what you want.
One area where there will be a massive impact is customer targeting and acquisition.
Big data and AI are huge in the world of sales and marketing because they are good at identifying buyers through data collection and analysis.
The only problem? Most countries are now voting for a more private internet, and many laws have been made to protect user privacy and guard against data collection.
Moreover, sales still require a personal touch. Ask any salesperson, and they will tell you how important it is to build relationships with your clients. Something that ChatGPT cannot do.
Okay. How about the education sector?
Imagine this you are taking online lessons from an AI in the morning while going to evening classes with a real human being.
Your interaction with the AI is often cold and similar to how you would interact with books. It is a compendium of knowledge, but without the know-how to use it efficiently, you would be lost.
A human teacher has years of experience when dealing with students. They are trained to be patient, disciplined and friendly.
They can understand when a student is stuck and how to untangle them from the problem.
While AI is fantastic in providing information, not all of it is knowledge unless you know how to use it.
What about programmers?
What about them? While ChatGPT can generate functional code, it still can't write complex ones.
It also lacks the creativity to figure out applications for code. What it can do, for now, is check the code for errors or maybe rewrite some portions of it to be more efficient.
This will free some headroom and allow programmers to tackle more complex tasks requiring their attention.
What about the future?
ChatGPT is a learning AI, which means it will get better at tasks with time.
ChatGPT can help tackle mundane work or day-to-day tasks that employees regularly perform. This will, in turn, free them up for important tasks.
Having said that, ChatGPT will get better. When it does, it may replace some lower-level jobs first and then move up the hierarchy. It isn't going to happen anytime soon, though.
As it stands now, it may create a few new positions. For example - a dedicated role for someone who is good with ChatGPT prompts or someone who is good with phrasing.
We don't need to loose sleep over ChatGPT taking over anytime soon. There is still some time left for that to happen.
