ChatGPT – What is it, and should we be worried?

A client recently asked me if I was worried about ChatGPT and whether I thought I’d be out of a job soon. My short answer is, no. Read on for my longer answer, and why I’m more intrigued than worried.

Please note: This article was originally written and first published in February 2023. Tech and AI evolve swiftly, so some content may not be as up-to-date as it could be at the time you’re reading this. The overall key messages, however, are still relevant.

Let me be clear upfront. I'm a writer, not a coder or tech developer. My knowledge of ChatGPT is growing, but it's limited. There will be new information available about ChatGPT by the time you read this, but I want to help others who are still trying to get their head around this new tool and what it may mean for their work.

So let me try to answer a few FAQs about ChatGPT. 

What is ChatGPT?

It's a chatbot developed by OpenAI, an American artificial intelligence (AI) research lab founded in 2015 by a group of tech entrepreneurs. In November 2022, they released ChatGPT.

They describe it as a language model "designed to understand natural language and generate human-like responses to a wide variety of questions and prompts".

Others have referred to it as a large language model – a deep learning algorithm that can recognise, summarise, translate, predict and generate text based on knowledge gained from massive datasets.

Why is it called ChatGPT?

The GPT part comes from "Generative Pre-trained Transformer". This refers to the computer program (the transformer architecture, if you really want to know) that interprets a large amount of text data to understand how language works. From the data, it generates new text – answers to your questions and prompts.

Do you have to pay to use ChatGPT?

At the time of writing, ChatGPT is available for free. I suspect it may not remain so. OpenAI has referred to it as a "research release" that they've introduced "to get users' feedback and learn about its strengths and weaknesses". They continue, "During the research preview, usage of ChatGPT is free."

Essentially, they need your questions to build it into a tool with enough valuable data that people will then pay for.

Who's using ChatGPT?

There's a lot of discussion around this – and the list is growing.

Coders and developers are using ChatGPT to help them solve coding problems (again, I'm not an expert in this area, so don't come at me).

Content creators are using ChatGPT to research topics and generate text.

Students are using ChatGPT for research and writing. As a result, education professionals are trying to figure out ways to detect its use and prevent plagiarism.

Call centres and customer service centres are using ChatGPT to create scripts and answer frequently asked questions.

Personal assistants are using ChatGPT to help them with scheduling tasks and email management.

Translators are using ChatGPT to help them translate text into different languages.

And, of course, copywriters are using it to help them research and write.

Should we use ChatGPT instead of Google?

At the moment, I think that's a matter of personal preference and the reason you're using a research tool.

As I understand it, both tools get their info from what already exists on the internet. Google will give you an answer to your query based on how information is indexed and how well results match your query. ChatGPT is a language model, so it aims to answer your query by providing a human-like response.

Google will bring up in its search results several sources that may answer your query, and allows you to choose.

ChatGPT answers your query in its own conversational way, without quoting its sources.

And here lies the problem …

If you're sourcing information from ChatGPT, how do you know what the source of the information is?

If you were quoting text from ChatGPT for business or educational purposes, you'd have to quote ChatGPT as your source. How does one fact-check that?

With Google search results, you can check the legitimacy of the information sources and you can attribute the text and info that you use to those sources.

Can you use ChatGPT text for your business writing?

I went directly to ChatGPT with this question: Can I use text from ChatGPT for commercial use?

I got a few different answers. Initially, the chatbot told me that text from ChatGPT was for non-commercial use only. If I wanted to use its text for commercial purposes, I needed to contact OpenAI for permission.

I rephrased my question and asked the bot who owns the copyright to the text generated by ChatGPT. It responded by telling me that copyright for text produced by ChatGPT belongs to OpenAI, but it is available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license.

I got a bit more specific and asked if I could use ChatGPT text for a blog. It said yes.

But isn't a blog something written for commercial use? It said yes.

So can I use ChatGPT for a blog for my business? It said yes … as long as I attribute the source (i.e. publish the fact that the text was written by ChatGPT).

It seems even ChatGPT isn't sure about that one.

Can ChatGPT do the job of a copywriter?

ChatGPT is fascinating in the way it answers questions with a human-sounding voice. And the speed at which it can generate large bodies of text is incredible.

But you don't hire a copywriter to just put words on a page in the shortest timeframe possible.

A great copywriter brings more value to your business than that.

A great copywriter understands your business strategy, customer needs, brand voice, engagement strategy, calls to action, point of difference, value proposition … and much more.

A great copywriter appreciates that sometimes you need copy written for humans, and sometimes you need copy written for search engines.

While ChatGPT may present new opportunities for content research, it's not going to replace the strategic work, the briefing process, the iterative and collaborative process that goes into writing effective copy targeted at specific desired outcomes.

But let's ask ChatGPT whether it thinks it can replace a copywriter

Hey ChatGPT, why should clients continue to hire me as a professional copywriter and not just use ChatGPT to write their copy?

ChatGPT's response:

"Hiring a professional copywriter versus relying solely on ChatGPT is like using a recipe versus hiring a chef. While a recipe can provide guidelines and basic instructions for cooking, a chef brings creativity, experience, and a personal touch to their dishes. Similarly, while ChatGPT can generate text and ideas, a professional copywriter can bring a unique perspective, expertise, and creativity to their writing that can't be replicated by an AI tool. Just as a chef can elevate a dish to something truly special, a professional copywriter can help a business create content that stands out and resonates with its audience." (Source: OpenAI, ChatGPT)

That's brilliant. But it's not unique. How many other people will ChatGPT give the same or a similar response to?

So should we be worried about ChatGPT replacing humans? No, I don't think so. It may help us do some of our work differently, think differently, and interact differently. The hope is that it will help us do some of the mundane tasks better or quicker – tasks that can be automated. As a result, we can spend time doing other work that allows us to be more creative or strategic.

As I said, though, it's all still fairly new. I'm interested in hearing how you're using it and what your predictions around it are.