Disclaimer: I have spent a grand total of 30 minutes researching ChatGPT. This post is not comprehensive. For more information, just google ChatGPT and a wealth of articles will be at your fingertips.
First things first: What is ChatGPT? I went straight to the source and asked ChatGPT. Here’s what it revealed:
ChatGPT is a large language model developed by OpenAI that is trained to generate natural-sounding human-like text. It can be used for a variety of tasks such as text completion, conversation generation, and language translation. It is based on the GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) architecture.
I asked it to explain ChatGPT to a sixth grader.
ChatGPT is a computer program that can understand and write like a human. It’s like having a robot that can talk to you and understand what you’re saying. It can help you with your homework or even have a conversation with you. It’s pretty cool!
Great! I understand it a little better now.
ChatGPT “learned” by scanning several terabytes of information like books, articles and websites. And as it is exposed to more data, it will constantly learn more and improve its output.
It’s a free tool available to anyone with a computer and internet connection. This chatbot has already created controversy, especially in the education industry. Educators are worried students will use it to write essays and research papers, eliminating the need for critical thinking and research skills. Other educators think schools need to learn to teach with AI, since it won’t be going away.
5 ways communicators can use use ChatGPT
I asked ChatGPT how professional communicators could use it. Here is the text it generated.
Professional communicators can use ChatGPT to help write a variety of materials, such as press releases, speeches, internal communications, and other types of content. Some ways that communicators can use ChatGPT for writing include:
- Generating new ideas: Use the model to brainstorm different angles or approaches for a story or campaign.
- Writing first drafts: Use the model to generate a rough draft of a press release or internal communication. This can save time and allow communicators to focus on editing and polishing the final product.
- Creating variations of text: Use the model to create multiple versions of the same text to test which one resonates best with your target audience.
- Writing speeches and presentations: Use the model to generate speeches or presentations that can be tailored to different audiences.
- Social media posts: Use the model to generate social media post, captions, and hashtags that are relevant to your campaign.
- Email and newsletter content: Use the model to generate emails, newsletters and other types of content for internal and external audiences.
It’s important to note that ChatGPT’s output should be reviewed and edited by a human as the model is not aware of cultural nuances and could generate inappropriate or irrelevant content. Additionally, professional communicators should always verify the accuracy of the information generated by the model before sharing with any external or internal audiences.
I like that it states the information needs human intervention. That’s where AI will never replace a professional communicator. While ChatGPT can generate facts (most of the time), it can’t write in your brand’s voice or account for regional or industry differences.
In addition to the ideas listed above, ChatGPT could generate headlines or help explain a complicated idea or paragraph (similar to what I did at the beginning of this post).
More limitations of ChatGPT
While ChatGPT can be used for a variety of tasks, there are limitations. Here are a few things ChatGPT cannot do:
- Access “real time” information or up-to-date financial data
- Use urls to generate content
- Produce anything that happened after September 2021 (for now)
- Crawl the internet like a search engine
- Decipher what is mis-, dis-, and malinformation or fake news
It also may include some bias in the content it generates. These limitations highlight why it’s important to review anything ChatGPT produces, as it encourages above.
If you are using AI generated content, the Search Engine Journal notes Google can detect if content is AI generated, which violates Google’s policy. If you are using exclusive content generated by AI, it could hurt your SEO and mark it as spam.
This chatbot is amazing, and will only get better with time. Consider using it as research assistant or idea generator. I also heard you could use it to summarize meetings. 🤯 But always review and revise the final product before releasing to an internal or external audience.
One Kansas Girl 