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We've been talking about how artificial intelligence (AI) might change the world in such a way that jobs like car drivers, personal assistants, customer service representatives, consultants, instructors, and even authors like myself might become extinct. These possibilities abound in science fiction films. In practicality, as 2023 got underway, people saw a number of these opportunities.
Everyone is ecstatic about a new AI bot called ChatGPT. Even those who haven't extensively used a virtual AI assistant in the past or aren't too familiar with AI as a technology have a reason to pay attention to this powerful Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (GPT). (See: ChatGPT Reignites Web-Search Wars)
Just a few months after its debut, the ChatGPT has already been used by more than 100 million users, according to several media reports. Its launch by many has been seen as a competition to the dominance of the undisputed web search giant, Google. Microsoft probably has seen this as an opportunity to up the ante against Google by announcing an enormous investment in OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, already. Reports suggest that Bing, Microsoft's web search engine, will soon run on ChatGPT, which makes the scenario much more intriguing.
But the focus of this month's cover feature is not on ChatGPT's impact on Google's hegemony. Given the excitement surrounding ChatGPT, organizations must determine whether or not ChatGPT can be successfully integrated into their IT environment to create cutting-edge enterprise apps. Would it be the new game-changer and play a significant part in improving organizational procedures as well as their social media/customer engagement strategy, e-commerce goals, and customer service?
What’s so unique about ChatGPT?
The ChatGPT can respond to a wide range of queries and can even create an in-depth essay on just about any subject you can think of. The technology leverages the vast amounts of data it was trained on to identify certain patterns and make intelligent judgments. This data is based on online data and through well-certified data sets.
Most chatbots that people deal with still lack understanding and can only answer simple queries or provide minimal assistance to users with their problems. But, according to industry experts, the field of natural language processing seems to be entering a new stage as Chat GPT shows the technology's capacity to sustain a discussion through multiple questions in addition to producing software code. The AI tool can let users easily write detailed essays, provide grading/feedback on their work and even solve some mathematical problems.
“It is important to note that GPT has the potential to greatly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of health care by providing personalized recommendations and treatment plans to patients and helping healthcare professionals with their daily tasks. While there are challenges to overcome, such as the need for accurate and up-to-date data and concerns about privacy and security, the use of Chat GPT in healthcare holds great promise for the future,” says Gaurav Bagga, SVP-Product & Engineering at Pristyn Care.
Gaurav sees a mix of risks and rewards of the intelligent AI interface by adding that some possible future applications of GPT in healthcare could include using GPT-powered chatbots to provide mental health support to patients or using GPT to generate personalized exercise and nutrition plans for patients based on their individual needs and goals. “GPT could also be used to help healthcare providers with tasks such as scheduling appointments or managing patient records, making the healthcare system more efficient and effective.”
ChatGPT and similar tools can be trained on organizational data to transform the sector as technology advances. They also serve as good beginning points for software development, content creation, knowledge management, customer interactions, and strengthening employee experience. Virtual personal assistants, tutors, and event planners are all concepts that could materialize.
It's still a work in progress...
Even while ChatGPT can greatly boost human productivity with the correct use cases and implementation, it still has several user-facing issues that keep the majority of tech titans on the fence about using it.
"We developed a Chatbot in 2018 and are still using it for our retail customers. We have made significant improvements to it. What began as a simple virtual assistant has developed to take advantage of AI's intuitive potential to construct algorithms that could be moving toward deep learning to provide a more personalized experience. We are still exploring how ChatGPT might change the ecosystem and how it can enable us to help our consumers and business more effectively," says, Yatish Shivaprasad, Director & Head - Corporate Functions Technology, at Societe Generale Global Solution Center.
CIOs and IT leaders are mostly playing a waiting game to assess ChatGPT's potential, even though the tool has attracted the attention of the tech elite and has the potential to change the game in the future.
Indian Oil has made substantial use of the bots to increase utility and efficiency. The country’s flagship national oil company is looking at the developments with a lot of interest around ChatGPT but noted it's too early to comment on a specific use case. "We are looking into taking on AI in a big form and these kinds of things [ChatGPT] where a lot of interactions happen in the business side - with your customers or internally. We are closely monitoring the evolution of ChatGPT, which is an intriguing development,” says Manish Grover, Executive Director (Strategic IS &IS), IOCL.