The hype is real. Chances are you’ve heard about ChatGPT. Maybe it has made it into your reading or conversations, either at work or casually, and if not, chances are it will soon. It is an advance in AI technology that cannot be ignored. So, what is it? And more importantly, what are its benefits and business applications?
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence (AI) large language model chatbot developed by OpenAI, a San-Francisco based AI research laboratory founded in 2015. It is owned by both a non-profit and for-profit arm with Microsoft being a large investor. The ChatGPT chatbot was released by OpenAI in November 2022 as an AI communication program prototype. Knowing that though, hardly answers, what’s ChatGPT? Let’s break down the acronym to gain a deeper understanding of this AI technology advancement.
What Does the GPT Stand for in ChatGPT?
GPT stands for generative pre-trained transformer, which is more than a mouthful, but it can help answer the question, what it is? It refers to what it does, how it does it, and how it is built.
G is for Generative
Generating text is the purpose of AI ChatGPT. When prompted by a user, it generates new text based on patterns and associations that it has learned. These responses are in a form of natural language processing (NLP), which basically means that ChatGPT is designed to communicate with humans in a way that sounds natural to humans.
P is for Pre-trained
Open AI ChatGPT was trained or taught on an enormous amount of material gathered from the Internet. This pre-training allows ChatGPT to generate responses that can be understood without needing to be trained more.
T is for Transformer
This is a technical term referring to the specific architecture or design that makes ChatGPT capable of handling long-range discussions. It can detect dependencies in text, which is a technical way of saying that it can produce natural sounding language and carry out a long-range dialogue.
ChatGPT: A Recap
ChatGPT is a communication program that generates text using a large language model. It was trained with a mass of material so it can respond to a vast range of questions, converse on a huge array of topics, and quickly generate text that feels familiar to humans. The versatility and human-like responses of ChatGPT is a leap forward for chatbot technology. Knowing all of that begs the question, what’s ChatGPT good for?
ChatGPT Benefits for Business?
ChatGPT functions as a conversational human interaction. It not only answers questions but can continue the dialogue through follow-up questions. It also can acknowledge mistakes and decline inappropriate requests. Its responsiveness and ability to generate text quickly and seamlessly elevates its business uses. For example, it can be good for blogging – but let’s be honest, it doesn’t have the most important part – the human touch.
Efficient and Cost-effective Scalability
ChatGPT can communicate with a large number of people all at once making automation and scalability more affordable and more doable.
24-7 Availability
ChatGPT is quick and responsive around the clock, expanding customer support without a lot of added costs.
Multi-Lingual
ChatGPT is trained in many languages and can respond across multiple countries and regions, easing language barriers across borders.
Customization
This is a big one. ChatGPT can be trained with specific data for a specified business or industry, making its responses customizable. The voice, terminology, and tone of interactions can align with a business’s brand, culture, and image.
Personalization
Beyond customization, ChatGPT can reach a level of personalization not present in prior AI chatbots. It can remember a user’s past interactions and preferences, allowing for more accurate and individualized responses to support customer relationships.
Integration
It can be integrated with other business tools and platforms, such as CRMs, e-Commerce and social media platforms, and virtual assistant software. This allows for more seamless workflows across multiple departments and channels.
Better Business Analytics
ChatGPT gives businesses the ability to access and process data in real-time, allowing for more timely and accurate information. Better data equals better information equals better decision making.
Is ChatGPT Good for Business Applications?
It is difficult to not ask if ChatGPT will replace your work or the work of others. Will it replace programmers or writers? Can it replace search engines? These are all valid questions, but instead of concentrating on technology replacing current work, it is beneficial to concentrate on how it will transform what you do and help you do it better.
A Task Guru
Can ChatGPT write essays? Yes, basically, and a whole lot more. As a research tool, ChatGPT can distill a lot of information into readable chunks through conversational dialogue. As a task tool, it can generate emails, essays, website pages, resumes, social media posts, articles, code, detailed descriptions, outlines, and lists. The accuracy and usefulness of these materials, however, requires human discernment to glean understanding, insight, and analysis. User prompts and questions also need to be shaped to generate usable content.
Revolutionized Customer Service
The applications for consistent and responsive customer service using ChatGPT are widespread. Revolutionary possibilities include:
- Frequently asked questions covered quickly and effectively
- Personalized recommendations and conversations
- Real-time insights
- Fast, accurate, and relevant answers to customer queries
Enhanced Customer Experience
A chatbot trained to understand human intent can support a seamless customer experience that can be automated, relieving repetitive tasks and queries. The result is reduced labor costs and more effective and flexible support teams.
Predictive Analytics
The ability to spot and report on trends in real time puts predictive analytics and fraud detection at your fingertips, speeding up recommendations and implementation.
Supply Chain Management
Imagine how much better you could manage supply chains with the ability to refine predictive demand, track inventory, and pinpoint bottlenecks in real time.
Personalized Marketing
Personalized marketing becomes more reliable with the ability to:
- Analyze large amounts of customer data
- Evaluate customer sentiment with social media channel monitoring
- Weigh customer responses in real time
- Examine market trends more rapidly and accurately
How to Use it?
ChatGPT is currently free for users in the interest of continued development, but will eventually become a paid application. You can use ChatGPT through a web app by first creating an account and registering your email. Some parameters for free usage do apply.
Character Limits
The ChatGPT character limit is based on a maximum number of tokens, which translates as words, punctuation, and symbols in a text response. The number of tokens depends on the platform or application ChatGPT is running on.
Login Issues
There have been technical issues for users including the ChatGPT login not working. If this happens, try to:
- Verify that servers are available
- Confirm you are using a compatible browser
- Disable VPN use
- Check you are not using a browser extension
Server Issues
With the large number of people using ChatGPT, it is not running optimally. You may receive an error message when trying to login or instead of receiving a response. If you get a ChatGPT internal server error message, you can:
- Make sure you have verified your email after registering
- Log out and log back in
- Clear your cache and search history
A paid subscription, ChatGPT Plus, is available and is more reliable with faster response times.
Limitations of ChatGPT
AI technology is advancing rapidly. ChatGPT is a useful tool to accomplish any number of tasks, but it is not without limitations.
Generation Vs Reliable Insight
ChatGPT can generate the words of an essay in a distinctive style, but the content may not be reliable or accurate. It may even be inappropriate. ChatGPT generates a coherent response based on the material it was trained on, but it does not truly understand the topic. It does not think, it generates. It cannot critically analyze information. The sentences will be readable and grammatically correct, but not necessarily with any deep insight.
Internet Search Vs Pre-trained with Data
ChatGPT does not search the Internet for information. It uses the information it learned from the Internet. (Remember, P is for pre-trained). This leaves room for error. It was also only trained on data through 2021. So, as sophisticated as ChatGPT appears, it does not know who played in the 2022 world series or that there was recently a very large earthquake in Turkey or that Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
ChatGPT AI Alternatives
It certainly is not the only AI chatbot out there. Advances in AI technology continue to be developed and deployed. Researching and testing this technology and exploring its uses and applications is advantageous.
What is ChatGPT?: Not the Final Question
Discovering how to apply it to your business applications means more than just answering what it is. Learning to weave it into workflows can make businesses more flexible and responsive. Advances in AI technology are going to continue. ChatGPT is an AI leap, but it is not the last one. Learning how to leap to your benefit will prove important now and into the future.
