ChatGPT: The AI Chatbot that Outperforms Humans in Some Areas, but Not All

ChatGPT is taking the world by storm. It may be helpful to think of it more as a research assistant than a guru, an assistant who has rapid access to vast quantities of information. Somewhere around 2003, Google disrupted the search engine space. Before Google came along, Ask Jeeves, AltaVista, and others helped the world find information. Google changed that, introducing relevant search results providing answers within the first page of its response.

We learned how to craft statements to post with Google that will help it find what we need.

Now, ChatGPT changes that. Disrupts that. You start with conversational English. Rather than a list of web pages, ChatGPT responds with a few paragraphs of well-worded text. With Google, you get a list of web pages from which you can open each result to dig deeper to get pieces of your answer. ChatGPT pulls it all together for you, with paragraphs, lists, or tables with all you need. If you need to refine it, just ask another question.

Reasons ChatGPT is Worth Exploring

Accessibility

ChatGPT makes content more accessible, enabling anyone to interact with massive amounts of information, and easily make sense of it. In the past, technical skills were needed. Now, you only need a web browser and the ability to type a question in English. That’s what makes this so accessible.

For those old enough to remember Cliff Notes, ChatGPT can do likewise, yet on demand.

Prompt: "Distill the most important lessons from {Book Title} into a comprehensive, digestible summary."

Prompt: "Summarize what {name} taught about {subject}

ChatGPT takes the old Cliff Notes to the next level by allowing you to get a summary of any subject, more than just book titles.

Prompt: “What can we learn from {subject}”

Clarification / Explanation

ChatGPT makes complex information understandable. This can help save hours of research time.

Prompt: "Explain Generative AI to me like I was a child"

??or

Prompt: "Explain this to me like a beginner"

Once you have an answer, you can then ask it to help you learn. For example, you can follow-up the previous question with:

Prompt: “Create a 30-day lesson plan to learn this”

ChatGPT enables you to compare and contrast various subjects.

Prompt: "Describe the difference between {subject A} and {subject B}"

You can then further refine the response, all within the same ChatGPT conversation.

Prompt: "Now describe the similarities between the two"

You can put an extra clause…

Prompt: "Describe the difference between {subject A} and {subject B} and emphasize {subtopic} in the response”

For example: “Describe the differences between apples and oranges with an emphasis on their skin.”

Content Creation

ChatGPT can help you create meaningful content. For example, assume you want to create a successful IT professional services launch strategy.

Prompt: "My team offers the following services to others: {x, y, z}. Guide me through developing a professional services plan that appeals to {roles}"

You can ask it to create content appropriate for a specific audience.

Prompt: “Create a beginners guide for {subject}”

Brainstorm

ChatGPT can help you brainstorm ideas related to a particular problem or subject area. For example, if you want to generate headlines or blog titles for an article you want to post.

Prompt: "Create {xx} headlines about {subject}."

You can ask it to refine the response.

Prompt: "Adjust the list to include dry humor and sarcasm"

You can also ask ChatGPT how best to ask it questions about a subject.

Provide {xx} prompts related to {subject} that {role} would find useful.

How-To and Problem-Solving

ChatGPT can provide instructions on how to solve specific problems. Use this to come up with new ways of doing something.

Prompt: "Share a step-by-step approach for solving {problem}"

Prompt: "How would I go about creating a {specific solution}"

For example: "What are the steps for installing ChatGPT on a local device with my data?"

Exploring

Experiment with different writing styles and tones of voice, to add a bit of creativity.

Prompt: "Change the list in the last response so it has the writing style of a sales pitch"

Prompt: "Critique a sample of my writing, which follows. {some text}"

(but beware. Whatever you submit to it becomes theirs!)

Guidance

As a people manager, ChatGPT can help provide insights into employee engagement, performance management, and managing people.

Prompt: "How can I motivate employees"

or with a specific situation:

Prompt: "How can I motivate employees after layoffs eliminated many roles"

Prompt: "How can I conduct a performance review"

Prompt: "What training resources would help a {role} achieve a {next level role}"

ChatGPT Introduces Many Risks

With all the good, there are some drawbacks and limitations. Here are a few.

Access to Criminal and Illegal Content

ChatGPT responds to any queries. Therefore, anyone can use it to obtain illegal material, criminal content, and even information related to terrorist activities. The tools can accelerate criminal research. While the system has mechanisms to prevent such content, people continue to find ways around it. Organizations and countries may ban ChatGPT just for this reason.

You Surrender Your Content

ChatGPT owns and retains whatever you type as a prompt. ChatGPT can ingest that content and later give that away as a response to anyone and everyone. Companies have accidentally given away secrets in that way.

Here are examples you want to avoid!

Consider: "Here is my business plan. Rewrite it for a potential Gen Z audience who only use a mobile device to interact with my services."

Consider: "Here is my essay on {subject}. Rewrite it for a high school audience"

Attribution

ChatGPT provides no citations or references. The information in the responses may be copyrighted by someone else. If you quote it as your own, you could plagiarize other people’s work. In addition, a lack of attribution prevents you from digging deeper into a particular source.

Accuracy and Reliability

ChatGPT pulls data from all over the Internet, including the most accurate and useful, as well as the false or misleading. The responses may represent a neutral perspective or may lean in a particular direction, perhaps contrary to your worldview and that of your audience. ChatGPT's response could be misaligned with your intent. The tone and wording may differ from your perspectives, which can be easy to miss unless we are careful. Therefore, we must diligently review and edit the response before using it.

Mediocre Responses

Responses tend toward more mediocre, generic responses rather than anything truly interesting, even if you ask it to respond "from ____ point of view." The tool pulls in data from all over and then summarizes it. The result may fall within the middle, median, average, and... boring!

That may be a good thing, as the less-accurate extremes are omitted and rounded out. Yet, when using the responses to create your own content, use them only as a starting point.

CONCLUSION

ChatGPT is accessible to the masses and helps to clarify and consolidate even the most complex subjects. It can help you brainstorm new ideas and solve problems others have faced. It can help you explore topics and gain insights to expand your skills and understanding.

Yet, ChatGPT and other generative AI tools are limited to the past and provide helpful insights from information that has already been written and what is already known. It cannot be truly creative and innovative. Only people have that unique skill!

It has several drawbacks. It does not attribute its sources. We must determine the accuracy of its information, which is easy to forget when the responses “sound” authentic.

ChatGPT makes for a helpful assistant. For myself, I will continue to experiment. I encourage everyone to do the same. Try it out. Test and learn.

Critical thinking remains a key skill with this technology! Assess the validity and usefulness of the responses. Take the content it provides and make it your own, confirm the facts, edit the wording, change the tone, and add your own experiences, perspectives, pain points, successes/failures, and learnings.

Let us know how it goes.