We are of course talking about ChatGPT. Touted as the next era of innovation, ChatGPT
was first launched as a prototype in November 22 and quickly grew to over
100million users making it the most quickly adopted piece of software ever
used. In fact it grew so fast that is it now only possible to join a waiting
list for an account. It’s also currently
free to use (in its basic form), although we suspect this will not always be
the case. So whether you love new technology or are a late adopter it’s worth
knowing more about how ChatGPT can help your business and what to look out for.
Before we go any further it’s important to understand what ChatGPT
is, what it can do, and its limitations.
ChatGPT is the latest development in Artificial Intelligence,
developed by OpenAI. It is a natural language chatbot. Unlike Siri, Google Assistant or Alexa, it is
built on what is called LLM (Large Language Model). Rather than being built for
one specific role (with model answers) ChatGPT is trained to generate new
responses. Also unlike the chatbots of
old, it is continually learning, meaning that it will take into account previous
conversations and questions when it answers.
ChatGPT has been trained on a colossal amount of text from various
sources, including books, articles and the internet. It has learnt to digest all that text,
learning patterns and grammar to develop its understanding of language.
There are a couple of obvious immediate uses for small businesses,
particularly if you are not a good writer. ChatGPT is a language expert with
access to a huge knowledge base and can be a great place to start if you are needing
to for example write a business report, or need advice on strategy or planning. Did you know you can ask ChatGPT to improve
your own writing? Try asking it to plan your social media for you – ChatGPT
will provide some great advice on where to start. Another obvious use is marketing content
generation, for example content for your website, or blogs.
While the above are fairly obvious, there are a few other things
you might not have thought of, that OpenAI are keen to suggest. Try asking
ChatGPT how it can help small businesses.
It will suggest that businesses should leverage ChatGPT for enhancing
operations and to improve customer interactions, for instance customer support
and FAQs (a more enhanced, personalised chatbot), tracking order status,
product recommendations (based on previous buying habits), appointment
scheduling and a virtual assistant.
Ok so here are the provisos! Even according to ChatGPT itself, it
of course has it’s limitations. “Of course, Chat GPT is not without its
limits. It might struggle with context
sometimes, and you might catch it spouting out an odd answer that leaves you
scratching your head. But hey, even the
greatest conversationalists have their off days, right?”. Here are a few things to be aware of if you
are using ChatGPT in your business:
- It
gets things wrong! But it sounds right…
ChatGPT can generate answers that, due to its linguistic abilities, will sound
plausible, but are actually hugely inaccurate, or even non-sensical. It’s really important to carefully fact check
anything ChatGPT produces.
- It
can be biased. Language models like
ChatGPT will reflect the data they have been trained on. If this data is biased
or unethical this will be reflected in the response it provides.
- ChatGPT
is not actually connected to the internet.
It has a limited knowledge of the world and world events after 2021.
- ChatGPT
is trained in language patterns and uses a standard structure. It’s actually quite easy to work out when
someone has used ChatGPT if it’s unedited!
It will structure most responses with an introduction, a middle block
and a conclusion. You may even find standard paragraph starters – for instance:
firstly, furthermore and additionally in the middle block.
- You
should also remember, that while it sounds pretty clever, ChatGPT is not
human. It can’t reason, lacks real-world
knowledge and doesn’t have the ability to think abstractly. It lacks basic common sense too!
We’ve been experimenting with ChatGPT and we recommend you do
to! Try these for fun:
- Ask it to write a bio -
yours, someone famous and maybe someone you know who’s not so famous, but for
whom there is a little information on the internet.
- Ask it to write something in different tones. Watch how the content changes when you ask
it to make it fun, or for a child. In
our experience, sometimes the facts get missed, or even change in context with
a different tone!
And if you are really needing something to fill your time,
according to ChatGPT, “ChatGPT is like having a chatty buddy with an infinite
knowledge library. It’s like having a super-smart parrot that doesn’t just
repeat what you say but actually understands and responds in a way that makes
your jaw drop. You can ask it questions
about anything under the sun, from mysteries of the universe to the best recipe
for chocolate chip cookies.”
At MarketElements we have been experimenting with ChatGPT for a
few months. Here are a few
recommendations:
- If you plan to use ChatGPT for a little help with content, be
careful. ChatGPT uses existing content, including from the internet. Google does not like duplicate content. Additionally your content needs to reflect
your brand. Our copy writers can massage what is produced by ChatGPT, make it
unique and ensure it accurately reflects your brand.
- Talk to us about keyword targeting. We
can do keyword research specific to your industry and products or services
and help you identify keywords worth targeting. We can review your
website content and articles to make sure you have your intended keyword
in the right places, and make sure it reads well for your website
visitors.
- Get it right! Fact check! Fact check! Fact
check! Don’t take ChatGPT’s word for it! If you are too busy we can help with
this as well.
- Or just get us on the job. By using our knowledge of how Chat GPT works, we can avoid
some common pitfalls, and take advantage of this new technology to
research articles and web content more efficiently, saving you time and
money. So if you are thinking of
updating your web content, writing a blog or even something more
adventurous – give us a call.
