Don't paint your walls with a screwdriver (part 1 of 2)

30 Jun 2024 - Frans Vanhaelewijck

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When you meet people for the first time, it’s typical to express interest in their profession. When I reveal that I’m a software entrepreneur, the usual response is a polite, “Ah, interesting,” even though it’s clear they don’t find it interesting at all.

However, recently, people have started to add comments like, “Oh, yes, ChatGPT is truly remarkable, isn’t it?”

This illustrates a change in attitude. It reminds me of the “iPhone moment” (the launch of the Apple iPhone by Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007). The introduction of the iPhone disrupted not only the smartphone industry, but all of IT. I believe we are witnessing a new significant innovation or transformation in the IT field that will impact society. The general usage of these LLMs will significantly affect worker productivity. I tweeted earlier that we will see the effect of growth curves everywhere next year.

The “ChatGPT moment” in History

The current hype with ChatGPT has a striking resemblance; it’s reshaping our understanding of artificial intelligence and its potential applications. ChatGPT has notably advanced conversational AI and it sparked widespread adoption and transformation across various sectors, from customer service to education.

Not everything that shines is gold.

But many have become skeptical. At first glance, many regarded ChatGPT as a simple novelty — a convenient tool for students or lazy journalists to automate text generation. However, they’re quick to pinpoint its limitations and to illustrate that the technology’s error-prone nature makes it less reliable and trustworthy. What begins as excitement evolves into critique and cynicism.

Why business owners doubt the AI promise.

When talking to business owners, we learned about many more concerns. These owners are afraid to let their employees use ChatGPT for a number of reasons:

• Doubts about accuracy and the so-called hallucinations where the AI provided wrong yet convincing responses.
• The model’s inability to show the sources it bases itself on.
• Some find the content produced by the AI to be too generic and impersonal, and fear that AI-generated interactions could damage customer relations.
• Confidentiality and reliability in professional settings are also significant worries. Certain companies outright prohibit the use of such technology or impose strict guidelines, mainly due to concerns related to GDPR, privacy, and intellectual property rights.

What do we learn from all this?

• Need for Quality Control: AI’s mistakes or ‘hallucinations’ underscore the need for human oversight and supervision.

• Relevance of Responses: AI models currently fall short in understanding context like humans do. Hence, the emerging skill of ‘Prompt Engineering’ is gaining traction. “Prompt engineering” is a technique where input prompts to AI models, like GPT-4, are meticulously designed to facilitate a better understanding of context, thus enabling the production of more accurate and contextually relevant responses.

• Training and Implementation: Users need to undergo minimal training to use tools like ChatGPT effectively. This includes learning how to format input queries for optimal responses, understanding the concept of prompt engineering, and familiarizing themselves with the tool’s potential and limitations.

Simple steps towards AI success

Organizations can gain numerous advantages if they adequately prepare for AI integration. Some examples already available today:

• Cost Savings: AI chatbots have significant cost-saving potential. They can handle straightforward tasks and inquiries, freeing up human workers to tackle more complex issues.

• Knowledge Base & Support: ChatGPT can function as an interactive knowledge base, providing immediate answers to common queries or step-by-step guidance for processes, thereby reducing the need for managerial support and enhancing efficiency.

• Creative Brainstorming: ChatGPT can assist in brainstorming sessions, offering diverse responses and ideas that can ignite the discussions.

• Drafting & Editing Content: ChatGPT is a handy tool for employees who write extensively in their roles, assisting in generating drafts, suggesting edits, or helping to overcome writer’s block.

• Document Summarization: ChatGPT can read through lengthy documents and generate clear summaries. This feature aids employees in quickly grasping key points of complex information.

• Translation Assistance: ChatGPT can translate text between various languages, facilitating global communication within organizations.

As a business owner, don’t wait to be overshadowed in an increasingly AI-driven world. Embark on your AI journey today and fortify your competitive edge for tomorrow.

How to Be Successful When Deploying ChatGPT in Your Organization

See next week’s post on how to use ChatGPT effectively.