ChatGPT Is the New Disruptor-in-Chief But There’s a Catch

The new AI tool has the potential to disrupt almost every profession, say two experts who also warn of its dangers.

It is difficult to have escaped its name even if it is often difficult to pronounce.

ChatGPT is the sensation of this beginning of the year. 

Its difference with other chatbots currently in use is that ChatGPT is a conversational robot with which humans can converse in natural language. 

Created by Open AI, it was launched on Nov. 30 and is part of what is called generative AI. The name ChatGPT stands for “generative pretrained transformer.”

For almost two months, millions of people around the world have tested this chatbot to see if the merits touted by its developers are real. Their conclusions, often posted on social networks, indicate that ChatGPT has the potential to disrupt many industries and professions. 

Companies like software giant Microsoft  (MSFT) – Get Free Report and news platform Buzzfeed have recently announced that they are going to integrate the chatbot into their operations. Google  (GOOGL) – Get Free Report sees the robot as a real threat to its dominance of online search. The company recently brought back Larry Page and Sergey Brin, its two founders, to find appropriate answers to ChatGPT.

TheStreet asked two tech professionals about the changes ChatGPT will bring to the workplace. It appears that most jobs will be turned upside down by this robot but at the same time, the experts also warn against potential risks linked to the intentions of its human creators.

The Future With ChatGPT

As a result they advocate for “ethical, regulatory and security measures” to ensure “the worst never happens so we can focus on the benefits of ChatGPT.”

TheStreet: What will ChatGPT change in certain professions and in the way we all work and interact? 

Jeetu Patel, EVP & GM, Security and Collaboration at Cisco: “ChatGPT will change the way we work and interact across industries. For physicians and the healthcare industry in general, imagine the trial and error aspect of diagnosis being meaningfully altered with transformational AI for the better. With large data sets from previous patients, doctors can get a more accurate picture of a diagnoses much faster, which could be the difference between life and death for some patients. 

“This is a topic that hits home for me and is so impactful because it can save lives. But ChatGPT can also make marketers’ jobs easier with best performing web content and help a lawyer or paralegal generate sound legal documents, for example. Additionally, it can generally help professionals across industries, like asking ChatGPT where blind spots may be to check their thinking.”

Andrew Higashi, CEO and co-founder of ChangeEngine, a future of work company that enables individuals and teams to discover, design, and execute employee-facing initiatives.: “I think that generative AI is useful for ideation, but there will always be a need for content curation by humans. Generative AI can prompt new ideas that otherwise would have been discovered through a Google search. 

“If the copy can take us 80% of the way there, that’s a big step up, but the remaining 20% will be more bespoke and industry-specific. Overall, there are a ton of opportunities for professionals if they can approach generative AI with the abundance mentality.” 

TheStreet: How should one approach ChatGPT at work?

Patel: “Test it and see how it can work for and help for you. ChatGPT is an incredible tool that can facilitate hyper-productivity with conclusions drawn together efficiently and without friction. 

“Yet while this can transform the way we work, remember accuracy and bias play a role, so ChatGPT should be a starting point for you. Based on early usage of ChatGPT, if content is fully AI-generated, I recommend that it be disclosed in a public domain. This will require AI models to know if the content is human written or AI-generated.

“And beyond the individual level, since this technology disrupts business operations, it requires looking at how people will operate and ultimately how workers are retrained and reskilled for new roles. 

“In the future, all successful companies will infuse AI into every product that gets built. However, as an industry we need to approach training and job descriptions differently to address the rise of the technology.”

Higashi: “ChatGPT can be a powerful tool across the workplace. At work, generative AI can be used to create different variations & perspectives on important topics, which will drive healthy conversations. 

“I don’t see ChatGPT as a ‘one size fits all,’ but rather, as a tool we can use to augment our work, similar to how Grammarly helps us to correct our spelling, grammar, and punctuation.”

ChatGPT Threat to Professions 

TheStreet: Which professions are most threatened by ChatGPT and why? 

Higashi: “I’m a big fan of embracing generative AI and leveraging it to augment the work that’s currently done manually. There are many professions today that spend time manually drafting copy from scratch, and by compressing their time to market, it’ll significantly uplift their profession so they can focus on their strategic initiatives.”

Patel: “All professions have the potential to be disrupted by ChatGPT, presenting both opportunity and risk. With ChatGPT in its infancy, a lot of kinks have to be worked out. We need to be very careful about the downsides, ranging from the need to address IP ownership, the rights of original content owners, the people behind generating AI-driven content and more.

“To me the biggest risk is humans with bad intentions. Imagine if AI could understand emotion and started having emotion itself with negative intentions taught by its human creators. You can’t even imagine the consequences of this. 

“Good actors in the space have the responsibility to get to the finish line first and as industry we must ensure ethical, regulatory and security measures are put in place to ensure the worst never happens so we can focus on the benefits of ChatGPT.”

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