The release of new AI chatbot has led to speculations and sparked the age-old man vs machine debate.

We are always afraid of change, no wonder that the mention of Artificial Intelligence often triggers mixed responses. It can be considered a threat or a game-changer, depending on how you choose to view it. The recent introduction of ChatGPT (Generative Pre-Training Transformer) has created quite a clamour with its ability to produce human-like texts.

According to OpenAI, ChatGPT is "an artificial intelligence trained to assist with a variety of tasks." It has been used for question answering, for writing-be it an email, a poem or even a song, it can translate text in a wide variety of languages, help in coding and debugging, make recommendations, do market research, draft content and much more.

Armed with such versatility and perfection, ChatGPT has got the world excited with its launch, but it has also triggered the good old Man versus Machine debate. Experts, opine that, tools like AI will not replace humans but advocates embracing new technology to change the future of work.

ChatGPT: A boon or bane?

It is important to view ChatGPT from a realist’s lens. While its impact is undeniable, thinking about what we could do to leverage its strength should be our focus.

It is relevant to note that strategic business & technology advisor and bestselling author Bernard Marr writes in Forbes that ChatGPT won’t make people redundant. He argues how by learning to work alongside AI, people can use it to better their skills while leaving the mundane tasks to be automated.?“The benefit of this is that it frees up our time to concentrate on developing and using skills that machines don’t yet have - and perhaps won’t for some time.”

Madison Hoff puts together a detailed piece for Business Insider India comprising opinions of several experts on the impact of ChatGPT on jobs. Most of them felt that ChatGPT is not gunning for the white-collar jobs yet, and while it may put some jobs at risk by being part of the workplace in future, for now it is not ready for the real world. The articles also got people whose lives became easier by embracing AI.

ChatGPT can be a game-changer

Chatbots and AI even before ChatGPT have been used to enhance the skill set and bring ease to routine work tasks across industries.?ChatGPT could help in streamlining writing and editing, headline generation, and summarisation.?It ensures there are minimal errors in the area of content, programming, design etc.

In sales, ChatGPT could be used to generate accurate reports based on stored data. It could be handy in producing personalised recommendations for customers based on past purchases.

For HR, ChatGPT can be efficacious in facilitating communication with the employees, and in creating effortless customer-employee engagement strategies. The conversational model of ChatGPT, could be used to deal with routine staff enquires. It could help create engaging material for induction, onboarding etc.

Building learning journeys, analysing & predicting behaviour, anticipating changes, ChatGPT could be used as a tool to increase employee engagement and analyse a company’s performance.??I believe that it has the potential to help HR professionals to enhance the quality of their work by focussing on building relationships, thinking about next steps and enabling business growth than spend time on routine mundane activities.

AI is here to stay!

A recent research on 444 college-educated professionals showed that “ChatGPT substantially raises average productivity: time taken decreases by 0.8 SDs and output quality rises by 0.4 SDs.”

While ChatGPT is endowed with extraordinary capabilities, when it comes to real jobs and knowledge, AI fed on limited information, has got restraints. It can no way create an idea that has not been there or find a solution to a problem that has not been solved.

On an aside, I asked ChatGPT – “Will ChatGPT replace humans?” I loved the response.

“As an AI language model, my purpose is not to replace humans, but rather to assist and augment human abilities in various tasks. While AI technology is advancing rapidly, it is unlikely that AI will fully replace humans in the foreseeable future. Human intelligence is complex, and there are many areas where human intuition, creativity, and empathy are required. Ultimately, the goal of AI is to work alongside humans, complementing our strengths and weaknesses, to enhance productivity and improve the quality of life.” - I rest my case! ?

While, the language-based AI is the future, it is here to stay, and if we wish to remain relevant in the coming years, we will be participative in its progress. For now, we can take the solace that humans have still got the upper hand!