advantages and disadvantages of ChatGPT

 

ChatGPT under the microscope: advantages and disadvantages of AI

Creating blog texts, writing e-mails and even programming: The chatbot ChatGPT, which is based on artificial intelligence (AI), has been causing a stir for weeks. Never has a program been so good at generating human-like conversations. We show what the program can be used for and what dangers ChatGPT brings with it.

What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is a text generation tool developed by OpenAI. OpenAI describes itself as a non-profit artificial intelligence research organization. It was founded in 2015 by scientists and companies. The first version of the program was launched in 2018, and a prototype has been online since November 2022, which we took a closer look at for this blog post. 

AI-powered jobs will increase.

To show how powerful the tool is already in a prototype version, we asked the tool itself what ChatGPT is. In addition, we gave the chatbot some hints about the target group. So it should create its answer once in plain language, once for a person from the IT industry and once for a person who works in marketing.

The results are amazing. The bot gives a definition in simple language that is also understandable for people who are not very tech-savvy:

“ChatGPT is a computer program capable of responding to natural language. It has been trained on a large amount of text to understand the way people write and speak. (...) It's a kind of artificial intelligence."

Audience-specific answers

In response to the same question, noting that the person has an IT background, the bot writes: “ChatGPT is a pre-trained language model based on the Transformer architecture and developed by OpenAI.” In addition, the AI ​​provides information on how programmers can use the software: “As a programmer, you can integrate ChatGPT into your applications by using OpenAI’s API and incorporating the results of the model into your code. (…) ChatGPT is available in various programming languages ​​such as Python and Java and can be run on both the server and the device.”

ChatGPT for marketing

Information that is relevant for IT professionals is omitted from the answer for the marketing department and is supplemented by information that affects the everyday working life of copywriters and online experts:

“It can be used to automatically generate text, summarize, complete and respond to questions. (…) It can also be used to automatically generate content targeted to specific keywords or topics, which can make it easier for companies to strengthen their online presence and increase their reach.”

ChatGPT has a lot of confidence here, as it lacks any emotion or linguistic creativity. Even some errors that are very obvious to an expert will be presented by the AI ​​as truth if its data set wants it that way. Nevertheless, ChatGPT has many useful uses:

Benefits of ChatGPT

ChatGPT is capable of formulating human-like responses . For everyone who works with language, the program can be inspiration for texts or pre-formulate them. In addition, ChatGPT creates meaningful structures and subheadings on request .

The areas of application are diverse and since nobody answers here, the software is theoretically available around the clock, i.e. 24/7 .

ChatGPT can help businesses answer customer queries and process large amounts of data . An enormous advantage in times of a shortage of skilled workers. The previous chatbots quickly reach their limits when it comes to complex questions and individual inquiries.

As the example above shows, the chatbot adapts to its counterpart. There is no need for a special note to do this, as in our case. Based on the language, sentence order and punctuation entered, ChatGPT draws conclusions about the user and gives individual answers . This increases the satisfaction of those who use the program.

The AI ​​also takes context into account . Something that was often missing in the past and that other text AIs were only able to do to a limited extent in our tests.

ChatGPT can already speak many languages . The AI ​​was trained in English. But inquiries in German, Chinese, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian or Japanese are also possible.

Possible areas of application

The many advantages of AI can be used in many industries and fields of activity.

As a virtual assistant : Especially for simple tasks and answering questions.

As a chatbot : The AI ​​is excellent for customer support and booking services.

For content generation : ChatGPT is already able to deliver entire blog posts, social media texts and website content.

As a translator : Automatic translations, such as those offered by Google or DeepL, already work satisfactorily today. ChatGPT seems to understand texts even better and translate them in such a way that even native speakers don't notice the difference to a professional (human) translation.

To summarize things : ChatGPT is able to complete texts or to convert the essential content of a long text into an abstract.

But in addition to all the advantages and possible areas of application of AI-based technology, there are also a lot of disadvantages. In general, and as with any new technology, there are ethical questions that need to be answered.

Disadvantages of ChatGPT

Data quality: The AI ​​is unable to judge how good the text and data it was trained with is. Errors can thus be replicated. Not everything ChatGPT claims to be true is true. There is no test instance.

Bias: The program's responses may be incomplete and disadvantage groups of people. The AI ​​cannot initially recognize these distortions. This means that prejudices against minorities or other opinions can be reinforced.

Dependencies: Those who rely too heavily on technology become dependent on it and may forget skills. The best example of this is the inability of many people to find their way without a navigation system.

Emotions: Because ChatGPT is a machine, it cannot respond to human emotions and may give hurtful or inappropriate answers.

Creativity: ChatGPT has not yet mastered playing with language. You can't expect humorous texts or prose from the bot.

Data protection: The more ChatGPT is used, it massively intervenes in people's lives, collects data and can of course use this data to create user profiles that make people vulnerable.

Resources: In order to train the AI ​​and make it usable for many people at any time, enormous computing capacity is required.

Sources: ChatGPT currently does not indicate where the service got the information from. Source information, which is standard in scientific articles and also often occurs in journalistic texts, is missing.

Will ChatGPT replace humans?

This inevitably leads to the question of whether ChatGPT has the potential to replace humans. Even the simplest word tasks no longer have to be completed by humans, but the texts still have to be checked by humans, which does not always save time. There will also be less money to be made with translations in the future. Even today, companies often refrain from hiring professional offices because automatic translations are getting better and better.

New tool, old discussion

This can be seen as bad, but from a historical perspective it is nothing new. Professional fields have always changed and jobs have disappeared completely when advanced technologies have been widely used. And the argument has always been made at this point that the freed-up capacity can then be used for other, more useful things.

Furthermore, ChatGPT will not be able to replace jobs in the marketing industry and corporate communications in the foreseeable future. On the one hand, this is because they do not consist of pure craftsmanship, but always include a creative effort.

On the other hand, numerous tasks in PR and marketing are so complex and dependent on other people that an AI can at best provide support. The skills and experience of professional copywriters and consultants will therefore also be essential in the future.

Use Rights and Duplicate Content

It is currently questionable how the content that ChatGPT generates can be used. So far, anyone can register free of charge and make inquiries to the chatbot. However, some schools prohibit the use of ChatGPT . Other areas and industries will probably regulate its use.

The question of what the terms of use and license terms look like is also unclear. The service itself answers the question evasively. A paid version of ChatGPT has now also been launched. Nothing stands in the way of commercial use.

But what if ChatGPT violates trademark rights or parts of the answer are not free of copyright? Since no source has been cited so far, it must at least be carefully checked whether the generated content can be adopted 1:1. Especially with longer texts, the user should also ensure that there is no duplicate content.  

Conclusion

ChatGPT is a powerful tool that is very good at generating human-like communication. The possible uses are diverse. So it's no wonder that the media response is great. Where the service will develop is uncertain. Microsoft has already announced that it will invest billions in the software . In any case, AI has what it takes to fundamentally change society and how we search for and process information.