What's the hype about ChatGPT?
Chat GPT is currently causing a furor. For some, this bot, which can write texts on its own, is further proof of the progress of artificial intelligence. For others, however, the tool is a potential "fake news slinger" and therefore a danger to science, media, culture - and society itself. A guest commentary by Volker Gruhn.
This text was not written by an AI. Until now, such a disclaimer was not necessary, but in the future we may read it more often at the beginning of articles. For a few days now, ChatGPT, an amazingly talented bot from the American startup OpenAI, has been causing a big stir. From Süddeutsche Zeitung to Spiegel Online, almost all well-known publications have dedicated articles to it. It was particularly popular to let the bot write part of the article itself. After all, that is precisely its strength: creating content. And ChatGPT can deliver - from a "Christmas poem starring two puppies" to a "smart post for LinkedIn about the potential of ChatGPT". The results are readable and sound sappy in the case of the Christmas puppies and thoughtful in the case of the LinkedIn post. Only now and then does an oblique wording suggest that the text did not come from a human. On the other hand, oblique formulations can also be found again and again in the texts of people.
What effect does ChatGPT have on the handling of corporate data?
Applications like ChatGPT can trigger far-reaching changes and also have an impact on copyright and the cultural sector. I am particularly interested in what effects can be expected in the short term in companies, especially in the handling of data.
What is impressive about ChatGPT is the range of topics and the quality of the responses. Until now, developers had to go to great lengths to train their chatbots for specific purposes. A chatbot that is supposed to help with problems with the mobile phone contract has no idea about the last Bundesliga match day. ChatGPT, on the other hand, moves confidently on any playing field. The quality of the responses suggests that our search behavior on the Internet will soon be different. In response to the query "Give me five reasons why companies should look into AI applications", the bot does not deliver a list of suitable websites, but a text with five arguments in favor of AI. A text that would not stand out negatively among the vast majority of posts on the subject.
It's easy to imagine how this technology will shake up much of what's attached to search on the Internet - whether it's search engines, search engine optimizing, or the ad business. But not only that. The next generation of our word processors, content management systems or marketing automation tools will include ChatGPT-like features out of the box. The 500-character product description for the online catalog or the five-page dossier for the board of directors could then simply be taken over by a bot.
Where man still has the advantage
Not much time is likely to pass before most companies use such or similar technologies - the potential is too great. In the future, even the websites at the bottom of the structure will shine with compelling texts. And in target groups with several hundred thousand people, every single person will receive a cover letter that exactly matches their individual situation. If all companies use these technologies, the overall level of quality will rise - but that will make it difficult to stand out. At this point, the human contribution is needed again. The art will not be collecting and condensing data - the bot will do that. It will be drawing the right conclusions and deriving the best alternative courses of action. That has always been the decisive point, and it will be even more important in the future.
The actual task is then no longer to list five arguments that have already been published a hundred times in this or a similar way. The challenge is to find the one argument that no one has come up with yet. To recognize the one connection that is not in the database, but in the sudden change of mood at the negotiating table.
Because ChatGPT does not think up new things - the bot always looks backwards. This makes us humans aware of our strength again: looking ahead.
Author:
Prof. Dr. Volker Gruhn is founder and chairman of the supervisory board of the adesso SE. This company is one of the leading IT service providers in the German-speaking region and focuses on the core business processes of companies and public administrations with consulting as well as individual software development.
