ChatGPT: Are Professionals Getting Replaced by A.I.?
ChatGPT has hit the world at a torrid pace over the last month as OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, released its latest version of the online chat software that interacts in a conversational way.
Background
For those who are unfamiliar with ChatGPT, on November 30th 2022 OpenAI released ChatGPT, and it didn’t take long for it to go viral. Gary Vaynerchuk wasn’t the first to talk about ChatGPT, but his Instagram REELs post about it appeared to have started the storm amongst the marketing community. And when amazing things hit the marketing community, they can go viral pretty quickly. Especially in the community that follows Gary Vaynerchuk, a respected digital content and social media pioneer, many marketers pay attention to any insights he has on the digital economy.
If you haven’t used ChatGPT yet, it’s a simple interface that allows you to type in a question or a command and you will get a response generated by an artificial intelligence (A.I.), which seems to be very accurate in most of the responses, at least it appears to be accurate. For example, when we first tried the system, we asked it to tell us about Li Ka-Shing, the Asian tycoon. It took about 30 seconds to respond, but ChatGPT output a very well written paragraph that gave an accurate description of Li Ka-Shing. We then asked it a few more detailed questions, and it responded amazingly well. We did run into one hiccup when we asked about his current net worth, and ChatGPT said it didn’t have accurate numbers as Li Ka-Shing passed away in 2018, which isn’t correct as he is still very much alive.
How does ChatGPT work?
To understand ChatGPT, you need to understand the underlying programming framework that it is built on, GPT-3. GPT-3 is a complex natural language processing model developed by OpenAI and is one of the largest and most powerful language models ever created, with 175 billion parameters. It is capable of carrying out a variety of language-based tasks, such as question answering, text generation, translation, and summarization. It has been trained on a massive amount of text data, allowing it to generate human-like responses.
ChatGPT is a variant of the GPT-3 language model that has been fine-tuned specifically for the task of conversational response generation. It generates responses to text input that resemble human conversation using machine learning algorithms. It uses a large dataset of conversational text to learn the patterns and structure of natural language and then uses that knowledge to generate appropriate responses to new input in real-time.
Like a car and its engine, picture Chatgpt and GPT-3. The exterior styling, feel, and appearance of the vehicle is ChatGPT. The vehicle is powered by the combustion engine, just like ChatGPT is powered by GPT-3.
OpenAI
ChatGPT is owned by a company called OpenAI. OpenAI was founded by Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, John Schulman, and Ilya Sutskever in December 2015. The company was created to advance and promote research in the field of artificial intelligence, with a focus on ensuring that AI technology is developed and used in a way that is safe and beneficial for humanity.
OpenAI itself is an artificial intelligence research laboratory consisting of the for-profit corporation OpenAI LP and its parent company, the non-profit OpenAI Inc. OpenAI conducts research in the field of artificial intelligence with the goal of promoting and developing friendly AI. The company has developed several AI technologies, including the language model GPT-3 and the game-playing AI Dota 2. OpenAI's mission is to ensure that AI technology is developed and used in a way that is safe and beneficial to humanity.
Similarities to labor work
Before we look at how A.I. may affect business service professionals, we must look at the concerns that labourers voiced when robotics and automation were introduced into manufacturing during the mid-20th century. Over time, what we have seen is that automation frequently produces as many jobs as it eliminates. This was due in part to the fact that production of goods and services became cheaper as efficiency increased with automation. Lower costs often led to increased spending among consumers, which then led to increased employment as well.
However, some workers did suffer, particularly those who were immediately replaced by the machines and who had to compete with them. Since the 1980s, as more production and administrative workers lost their jobs or saw their wages drop, some argue that digital automation has increased inequality in the labour market. There were definitely some roles that were completely replaced by machine automation, but economists have studied the overall marketplace, and data shows that new types of jobs were created and outpaced the number of jobs lost. For instance, even though robots have replaced low-skilled employees on assembly lines, they have also led to the creation of new jobs for experts such as machinists, advanced welders, and other professionals who look after the machines or use them to carry out new duties.
What are some concerns about AI replacing professionals
Similar laborers of the 19th and 20th century, one concern about AI replacing business professionals like accountants is the potential loss of immediate jobs. As A.I. continues to improve, it may be able to automate many tasks that are currently performed by professionals. But this in itself poses some problems with how the current systems function. For example, there may be some potential mistakes in A.I.’s interpretation of client circumstances or, in the case of financial accountants, errors in interpreting how certain situations should be handled and how calculations should be made. While AI systems may be able to perform tasks quickly and efficiently, they may not always be able to provide the same level of accuracy and attention to client circumstances as a human accountant. Not every single business situation is the same, so approaches not always prescribed in a set formula. It requires humans to address these. But the question does remain, could AI eventually be able to analyze and adapt their assessments to different client situations? Can AI get so advanced as to take it one step further to conduct analysis on situations that it has never encountered before?
The idea of ethics and A.I. also creeps into the conversation. Some people worry that AI systems could be biased or make decisions that are not in the best interests of a business or its stakeholders. This could create ethical dilemmas for businesses and the accountants who work for them. Interestingly enough, the movie I, Robot posed this exact question. There was a scene where an android made a decision to save one person over another during an accident because, under its A.I. calculations, the percentages of saving the other person were significantly lower than the person it did save. With humans, there is the idea that “gut instinct” or an application of previous learning to different future circumstances is still something A.I. cannot replicate.
Final Takeaway
The implications for the future of professional work when it comes to ChatGPT are still uncertain. On the one hand, ChatGPT and other AI technologies could automate many of the tasks that business professionals currently do. This could lead to increased efficiency and productivity. But this very efficiency could result in job losses in positions that require less training in certain professional industries.
The ability to capture and report real-time data quickly is a positive for business professionals, who are often under extreme pressure to respond to client requests and provide expert insights. There may be an opportunity to enhance the work of professionals in industries like law and accounting, which could even open up new opportunities and areas of specialization.
Overall, the impact of ChatGPT and other A.I. technologies on the future of professional work will likely depend on how these technologies are developed and adopted, as well as on the willingness of business professionals to adapt and embrace these new tools.
