ChatGPT Business Opportunities and Risks

ChatGPT has produced some impressive results, and the possible applications seem almost endless. At the same time, the technology is new, and it’s still developing, so it comes with flaws as well as unknowns. Before you embrace ChatGPT business opportunities, you also need to know the potential risks.

What Is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is a type of generative AI called a large language model. It’s essentially a very powerful chatbot. However, that description may not do it justice since it is capable of much more than just answering questions with stock replies, as many chatbots do.

ChatGPT is probably the most talked-about large language model, but it’s not the only one. Google’s Bard is another prominent example. Bing’s new AI-powered chatbot is built on ChatGPT, but as ZDNet explains, there are some key differences between Bing and ChatGPT, notably the fact that Bing can access the internet.

Currently, ChatGPT is free to use. However, businesses can pay $20 a month to access ChatGPT Plus, which can provide faster response times, priority access to new features, and general access even during peak usage times. It’s also possible to train ChatGPT on your own data to build a custom version.

How Can Businesses Leverage ChatGPT?

ChatGPT works like any other chatbot. You ask questions – often called prompts – and ChatGPT provides answers. However, ChatGPT doesn’t just give short replies. It can give long, detailed answers, including articles, short stories, poems and code. If you provide it with information, it can summarize, translate and analyze it. These capabilities make it a powerful business tool.

There are many possible applications, and people seem to be coming up with new ones every day. Here are three main business opportunities:

Use ChatGPT to generate content and code. Let’s say you need a simple piece of code. ChatGPT may be able to write it for you. Likewise, ChatGPT could write emails, letters and other materials for your company. These applications could turn ChatGPT into a virtual assistant that summarizes information and writes replies.
Use ChatGPT to manage data. Whether you need data extraction, data analysis or data entry, ChatGPT may be a useful tool. If you feed ChatGPT information, it can extract data from it and then analyze the data. It can also help with data entry if you give it a prompt to create statements with the structure you need.
Use ChatGPT to personalize customer interactions. Chatbots are convenient because they’re available 24/7 with no wait, but customers can become frustrated when chatbots can’t help them. By training ChatGPT on your company data, you can create a more effective, human-sounding chatbot to interact with customers. You can also use ChatGPT to create personalized recommendations and experiences.

Many businesses are eager to leverage ChatGPT. According to Gizmodo, Duolingo is using ChatGPT to create tailor-made language lessons, Insider is allowing staff writers to use ChatGPT to assist them, and Slack is using ChatGPT to create an AI-powered assistant that can summarize threads, do research and draft replies.

What ChatGPT Risks Should Businesses Watch Out For?

Before you adjust all of your strategies or lay off your workforce, there are a few caveats.

ChatGPT hallucinates. Although ChatGPT does a very good job of providing responses that sound convincing, some of the information is fabricated from thin air. It’s called hallucination, and it’s a major problem for ChatGPT and other large language models.

One lawyer has already learned this the hard way. According to Reuters, a lawyer has admitted to using ChatGPT to create a brief for his client’s personal injury case. He got caught when the defense lawyers realized the cases cited in the brief didn’t actually exist. ChatGPT had hallucinated them.

This is also a serious problem for anyone trying to use ChatGPT to create content. If you ask it to write an article, it will spit one out on any topic you request, and it will even give examples if you want – but those examples may not be real. In addition to making mistakes that damage your company’s credibility, ChatGPT could also lead to claims of defamation. According to Rolling Stone, a Florida radio host is filing a lawsuit alleging that ChatGPT falsely accused him of financial crimes.

If you use ChatGPT to write content or code, you need to have a human read over the material carefully and check for mistakes.

Your data may not be secure. To get results that are relevant to your company, you need to provide data, and this data might not be very secure. According to Security Intelligence, ChatGPT has already experienced a data breach. A vulnerability allowed users to see the chat history of other users.

Faced with privacy concerns, some companies don’t think ChatGPT is worth the risk. Fortune says that several companies have banned workers from using ChatGPT, including Apple, Goldman Sachs and Samsung.

Generative AI Is Still New

It’s hard to say whether generative AI will live up to the hype. In the meantime, companies should proceed carefully, taking the following steps:

Create HR policies outlining the dos and don’ts of using ChatGPT at work.
Communicate your ChatGPT guidelines and expectations with employees.
Educate employees about the many risks – including quality control, privacy and contractual exposures.
Regularly train employees, keeping in mind that capabilities are rapidly changing.
If your team uses ChatGPT to assist with the creation of a work product, be transparent. Share your methods with customers and the general public. Consider disclosing your use of ChatGPT in work contracts.

Despite the risks, generative AI holds vast potential for companies that take a smart approach to innovation. As your company grows and evolves, so do its business exposures. Do you need help reviewing your business insurance coverage? BNC Insurance can help.

Contact us for assistance.