Is ChatGPT The Next Best Thing For Software Engineers, Marketers and Writers?
“The striking thing about the reaction to ChatGPT is not just the number of people who are blown away by it, but who they are. These are not people who get excited by every shiny new thing. Clearly, something big is happening”
Paul Graham – American Computer Scientist
What Is ChatGPT?
Founded by Elon Musk, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence-fuelled chat-robot has hit the media by storm for its human-like responses to any question and has crossed a whopping 1 million subscribers just a week after its launch.
Launched in November 2022, the software is a viral sensation, perhaps somewhat accelerated by the association with tech-giant Elon Musk, but certainly by it’s progressive approach to AI.
But what exactly is this technology and how is it different from other similar AI products on the market?
ChatGPT is a type of artificial intelligence (AI) in the form of a chatbot which interacts with humans in a conversational, relaxed and friendly manner. ChatGPT stands for chat-based generative pre-trained transformer and was developed by OpenAI, which specialises in dialogue.
ChatGPT generates human-like text based on input. It is used as a source of inspiration by writers but most importantly, can save time, collate crucial information and drive efficiencies.
By inputting text, ChatGPT can create a starting point for a story, blog, code or other written work supporting a range of industries, job roles or functions.
How Can Writers use ChatGPT?
For example, I’ve taken a relatively simple topic to test the software and asked ChatGPT “I would like to write a blog post about dogs, but I don’t know where to start. Can you offer some suggestions?“.
Here is ChatGPT’s response:
As you can see, ChatGPT has offered a plethora of suggestions on where I can start writing my blog post. As a content creator myself, these are really helpful tips and can help people of all abilities generate a successful blog post in little tme. On a busy working day, when producing an array of content, having the support of ChatGPT to include all of the main features of a blog post, as well as engaging topic features is cutting-edge technology.
ChatGPT Remembers the Whole Conversation
Following the previous question, I then asked ChatGPT to “Integrate Christmas in some of these suggested topics” being mindful not to include the word ‘dog’ in ‘blog post’. ChatGPT has remembered what the previous conversation was about and has suggested the following to incorporate Christmas into my blog post about dogs:
ChatGPT has created excellent ideas about dogs and Christmas as well as strategies to help improve the success of my blog post whilst remembering what the previous conversation was about.
However, there is one small inaccuracy in the Chatbot’s answer. “Write about the history of dogs in Christmas traditions, such as the legend of Santa’s sleigh being pulled by reindeer” – is incorrect, the chatbot has failed to recognise that deers and dogs are different animals. This highlights that even AI can sometimes need human brain power.
ChatGPT has recommended sharing the post with friends and family or getting readers to share their own Christmas memories with their dogs. These recommendations will increase the success of the blog post through increasing reach and engagement – a testament to just how advanced the AI is.
Can Act as a Collaborator with Writers
Unlike many other Chatsbots and AI text generators, ChatGPT can have back-and-forth conversations with writers to correct the chatbot. Here is an example where ChatGPT suggested that “Tiny Tim” from A Christmas Carol is a dog:
Here, the chatbot acknowledged the error in the previous answer, apologised and corrected itself – a very human response for a mistake.
Adapt Different Language and Writing Styles
Marketers and writers like to establish a unique style of voice to align with their brand. This could be formal, informal, humorous, corporate, persuasive, educational etc. To show you exactly how precise in writing style ChatGPT can be, here is what it created when I asked it to “Write a scene where a dog is saved at Christmas time in the style of Dr Seuss”:
ChatGPT managed to create the perfect story in the style of Dr Seuss, further displaying the process of learning, adapting and creating accurate new text based on your request – this is evolutionary for a chatbot.
How Can ChatGPT Help Software Engineers?
Lets ask ChatGPT to generate Javascript code which will come up with the first 10 decimal places of Pi:
As you can see, ChatGPT has generated code which I can now implement which will show the first 10 decimal places of Pi. This is a very basic request, and software engineers are likely to as for much more complex types of code.
I asked ChatGPT to “Create Javascript code for a 3-page website which is for a dog blog. The navigation menu has 3 links, Home, Blog and Contact Us. Please populate the blog with 4 blog posts about dogs. The home page should feature at least 3 pictures of dogs with text explaining why owning a dog can benefit the family home”.
Here is a snippet of the coding the chatbot gave:
ChatGPT has given me Javascript code in which I could start building my website about dogs, as well as content already built in. Software engineers are going to have much more complex requests or errors they are unable to spot. This type of artificial intelligence will be able to build complex scripts, spot errors in the coding and offer corrections.
What are the Disadvantages of ChatGPT?
Lead to lack of critical thinking and creativity
People who generate a large amount of content creation, or digital design work use a lot of their effort and thought. One could argue that artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT, is removing the vital skills of critical thinking and creativity from the workplace if used too much.
Can be used by dangerous people
This type of AI can be used to generate fake news quickly. Fake news saw a huge increase during the pandemic with 46% of people saying they saw fake news articles on social media each day. Artificial intelligence can also be used to impersonate others online. This can be extremely harmful to individuals and society.
AI can still produce wrong answers
As we saw above, ChatGPT mistakenly thought the character Tiny Tim was a dog, something that we know is not true. This proves AI still makes mistakes, and currently, is not a complete replacement for human brain power.
Impact on employment
As we all know, people are becoming increasingly worried that AI can replace human workers. This can lead to individual job loss and possibly, economic disruption. It is difficult to predict the future but it is suggested that it will be a fine balance between human connection and improving efficiencies with AI.
Matrix247's Opinion on ChatGPT
ChatGPT is a revolutionary tool for automation and is expected to shape how writers, marketers and software engineers operate.
For typically timely tasks such as bulk content writing for SEO or basic website code creation, quantity and speed are just as important as quality. Now, ChatGPT can provide exactly what is needed in a matter of seconds, which will inevitably mean businesses will see results quicker.
Furthermore, it is a great tool to start the creative process, especially for writers or those working in marketing and software development. It offers a human way of talking to a robot which doesn’t leave the user feeling like they are talking to tech. Instead, they feel empowered, inspired and ready to start their creative work.
However, we do need to be careful in relying on AI and chatbots to generate all of our creative ideas for us… some of the world’s most successful marketing campaigns and stories have no link or reference on the internet so AI (at least it’s capabilities now) can not generate these innovative stories which influence the masses.
We recommend that ChatGPT is used to meet deadlines, produce crucial content, and help kick-start the creative process. We definitely should not define our work with this type of artificial intelligence but instead, use it to inspire and empower the world of business.
Written by Eve Maguire, Marketing Manager
