Open AI's ChatGPT is the talk of the town right now. What does the technology mean for companies? In the following, we'll take a closer look at the potential and risk of ChatGPT for businesses.
When Open AI released their latest technology model, GPT-3, in 2020, the artifical intelligence community was really exited. This new machine-learning model was able to generate (almost) any type of text based solely on internet data. And it was the best model of this type ever created! However, the buzz around GPT-3 didn't really make it far outside the tech community. Until recently, with ChatGPT.
Basically, ChatGPT is a chat-focused version of the Generative Pre-training Transformer model. Unlike previous models that needed (programming) instructions to complete tasks, ChatGPT can complete tasks in a conversational style. When prompted by humans in natural language, it can also respond in the same way, making it the most approachable and smooth GPT experience yet. And that's what makes the technology interesting for companies.
How businesses can use ChatGPT
ChatGPT has the potential to automate many processes, and make bot-human-interactions smoother. However, as with any new technology, you need to carefully analyze the benefits that ChatGPT can bring to your business, and also consider the risks. First, just because ChatGPT exists, and offers a decent user experience, doesn't mean that you can (and should) use it for any and every aspect of your business.
Start off by carefully analyzing where the technology can actually benefit your business. These are some fields where the AI model shows a lot of promise:
- helping with research
- translations
- writing and improving code
- gathering ideas
- supporting content creation
- automating interactions with customers
The idea of using ChatGPT in customer service is especially intriguing for companies because it allows you to automate processes while still offering your customers a smooth and fast experience. And while a few years ago, users were still hesitant to interact with chatbots, as the technology has improved overall in the past years, a lot more customers are not only open to the idea, but also ask for chatbots. According to Solvvy, 80% of customers will use chatbots when they're offered.
However, it's important to note that ChatGPT is not the same as your typical company chatbot, and while Open AI's technology has certainly popularized the idea of chatbots, there are currently still many risks in using it.
The risks of using ChatGPT for businesses
While ChatGPT is a very exciting technology (and certainly fun to use), it also has its drawbacks, especially if you want to implement it in your company.
The GPT model requires a lot of training, and it combs through massive amounts of data, which means: it needs a LOT of computing power to work. So, unless you are Microsoft or Google, or somehow have access to a supercomputer, you'll need a lot of (expensive) computing power to set up a similar model for your company. If you use Open AI's version, you can obviously rely on their computers, but you also run many risks.
Inaccurate, insulting, or harmful information
First, the ChatGPT model uses a database from 2021. It doesn't have access to newer information or real-time data, which can be an issue if you want to provide up-to-date, accurate information.
Second, without special training, ChatGPT will not have a built-in "I don't know" response, meaning: it'll answer any question very confidently, regardless of whether the answer is true or false. Imagine the following: a customer asks ChatGPT to tell them how much one of your products costs. Since this a product you just launched in 2022, there is no information about this item in the ChatGPT database.
Now, if ChatGPT can't find the price, it'll still provide an answer that it finds adequate. This could be your competitor's price for a similar product, or the price of a different item you offer. And the customer would never know where ChatGPT got the answer from. This could end up in a terrible customer experience (being quoted a completely inaccuarte price is never a good experience), and result in negative feedback for your company.
Third, ChatGPT also doesn't have filters that prevent it from giving racist or insulting responses. It could also give potentially harmful legal or medical advice.
You would need a skilled IT team to train ChatGPT to ensure accurate answers that don't insult or harm anyone. In other words, ChatGPT is not quite ready yet for ensuring a smooth user experience that doesn't put your company or your customers at risk.
Privacy concerns
As the name indicates, Open AI is an open platform that millions of users from all over the world use. This carries several security risk. For one, it gathers a lot of personal data that users, unassumingly, might provide. This, in turn, makes ChatGPT very attractive for hackers. While one could argue that private users interact with ChatGPT at their own risk, as a company, you could become liable.
After all, you have to ensure user data privacy. If your customers' personal data somehow because public through ChatGPT, you're not only in violation of privacy laws. It can also damage the trust customers put in your company.
In addition, depending on what type of information you put into ChatGPT, you run the risk of making sensitive company information public. For instance, if your marketing team is playing around with the chat technology to come up with a good copy for sending out a customer e-mail about a new product that hasn't been released yet, this information might become public before you even launch the product.
Or, ChatGPT might come up with a text that is protected by copyright laws. If your marketing team then uses this text, you could face legal charges.
Summing up, ChatGPT is a very promising and enticing technology, but it's not quite ready for scalable business use yet. However, there are safer alternatives!
Conversational AI chatbots: Same smooth user experience, but without the risks
ChatGPT can be an additional technology that you can use for your business to help you out with some tasks or for inspiration. However, unless you build your own version of the AI model, it's not a safe, scalable business technology yet. However, what most people don't realize: the possibility of using a conversational chat technology for your business already exists.
Conversational AI has been around for years, and it provides not only the same smooth human-bot interaction as ChatGPT, but also a safe experience. Conversational AI uses artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and conversation design to create high-quality conversational technologies.
Unlike ChatGPT, conversational AI bots are developed in a closed environment, so they offer the highest security standards. They can also be customized to serve your companies specific needs.
And even if you just want to use a simple chatbot to answer your customers' most frequently asked questions faster, you don't need ChatGPT! There are alternative solutions out there that are just as easy to use, and that help you set up a chatbot in a few minutes, without running any risks.
Sinch Engage, for example, allows you to build your own chatbot with just a few clicks. You can either use ready-to-go templates, or build your own chatbot with our very intuitive drag-and-drop interface.
Either way, you'll end up with a helpful and safe chatbot that doesn't require any coding skills. So, you get (at least) the same seamless user experience that ChatGPT offers, but without any risks!
🤖 Do you want to try ChatGPT, but in a safe environment? Then check out the new ChatGPT integration powered by Chatlyer by Sinch. It's fun, secure, and compliant with data privacy laws!Â