Are the robots really taking over?
ChatGPT has made headlines across the world for being the new AI that will likely affect jobs everywhere.
New technology making jobs redundant as quickly as it creates new ones isn’t exactly a groundbreaking concept. In reality, the jobs created by new technology are often more technical, creative, or highly skilled and thus, higher paid— all of which can be win-win for workers and the industry alike.
The rate at which ChatGPT is impacting so many industries across the board, however, is what makes this particular innovation feel different.
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is what is known as a generative AI— an algorithm that can be used to make content. It generates text responses to text prompts, like a very advanced customer service chatbot you’d find on an app like Uber or Doordash.
Chatbots like GPT are powered by large amounts of data and computing techniques to make predictions about stringing words together in a meaningful way. According to the chatbot itself, ChatGPT was created by analysing billions of sentences and text taken from all over the internet.
The AI not only taps into a vast amount of vocabulary and information but also understands the words in context. This helps it mimic speech patterns whilst also providing knowledge from different crevices of the internet.
Theoretically, you can feed key information or questions to ChatGPT and it has the ability to deliver you everything from a university-level essay to an Instagram caption to the software code for that genius app idea you came up with at happy hour.
The chatbot was launched in November 2022 by OpenAI, a San Francisco-based AI and research company. This is also the company that introduced DALLE•2, a popular AI image and art generator that took over TikTok feeds late last year.
Other tech companies like Google and Meta have developed their own large language model technologies which use programs that respond to human prompts and devise realistic responses. Open AI revolutionises this type of technology by creating a user interface that also allows the general public to experiment with it directly.
Concerns about how the tech will be used in school and at work
The new tech is already being used in questionable ways across certain industries. For example, mental health organisations have been called out for creating automated responses to sensitive situations, and the first “robot lawyer” is set to fight a customer’s traffic ticket in a court hearing next month.
Some schools have banned the bot as students are using it to complete homework assignments. Governments around the globe have also raised concerns about the impact ChatGPT and other AI tech could have on the economy and the job market, sending their regulatory bodies into chaos trying to come up with adequate regulation around AI.
How ChatGPT will impact the influencer economy
Although ChatGPT will inevitably shake up the way many industries operate, it’s important to remember that everything ChatGPT writes or creates is based on what it understands about something that has been written before. This means it isn’t actually capable of original thought or creativity in the same way humans are— a major positive for influencers and those who rely heavily on the creator economy in their careers.
The technology is grounded in routine and formulas. So in theory, marketers and agencies can use the chatbot to create copy for advertising, marketing emails, social media posts, long-form content marketing pieces, and website design and copy.
This in turn will cut costs, but may also run the risk of turning customers and audiences against brands for becoming cold and robot-like as opposed to appearing human.
Influencers, on the other hand, are people who have built a relationship with their audience based on trust and human connection. Their audience is interested in the content they create because of the personality behind it— a concept that can’t necessarily be supported by AI.
As ChatGPT and other AI tech continue to become integrated within our workforce, it’s possible that marketers and agencies will need to work with influencers more frequently and in increasingly creative ways to maintain a level of human connection with consumers.
Alternatively, some agencies and marketers, like TinyDisco and SocialAndStaple, have taken to branding the company themselves as influencers in an attempt to create a genuine human connection with audiences and potential clients.
Remaining effective and competitive in the workforce means keeping up to date with new technology and embracing it rather than becoming complacent about it.
And whether we like it or not, it seems like ChatGPT and other similar AI are soon to become a norm in many industries.