Feb 09, 2023
There are currently two types of people in the world– those who have heard of ChatGPT and those who haven’t. Over time everyone is likely to be exposed to this supercharged artificial intelligence tool, whether you realise it or not.
ChatGPT launched on 1st December 2022 and within five days had one million users. In comparison, Instagram took 2.5 months to hit this milestone and Facebook 10 months. In January ChatGPT had 590 million visits and had reached 100 million users.
Co-founded by Elon Musk (who has described ChatGPT as “scary good”) Microsoft has confirmed it will invest $10 billion on top of the $1 billion already committed.
At the most basic level of explanation ChatGPT is an advanced AI chatbot with the ability to conduct conversations. The system can interact with users and have human-like conversations to answer questions or have fully-fledged conversations with users. It can then not only analyze responses but remember past responses to add context.
So why all the hype? ChatGPT is programmed to understand human langue and generate responses based on a truly enormous amount of data and parameters. In short, it has the ability to gather data or carry out tasks within seconds, and put it into user friendly format. There are some commentators predicting it will replace Google, such is its skill to provide accurate and useful information.
It is this ability to gather data and prepare human like responses that will impact on many current-day jobs. It is free, quick and easy to set up a ChatGPT account and start to play with the technology. In a 10 minute session I was able to ask the system to generate for a me a job description for a facilities manager, prepare a social media marketing plan to promote temporary staff and explain the role of Fair Work Australia. All the answers were generated in less than 5 seconds and were in a very readable form.
In the property sector ChatGPT will impact on roles in both the negative and positive. Social media campaigns could be written instantly by AI, removing the need for human involvement. Editorial articles describing a property for sale may no longer need a journalist to prepare. Research on property values could be sourced instantly online bypassing engaging a valuer….. the list goes on.
History has shown us that has we evolve, so does industry and jobs in society. When computers were invented there was a structural shift away from human labour in many areas. Data processors were replaced by online systems, manual telephone switchboard operators by electronic exchanges and production lines by robots. Other roles have been created such as web developers, social media influencers and software engineers.
ChatGPT will impact your current job in ways that we can’t even yet imagine. It may sound overstated but it appears that we are at a pivotal point in time, with the use and impact of artificial intelligence about to take a huge leap forward. Perhaps what makes it all the more so is it feels like ChatGPT is much closer and accessible for everyday use, than some of the high end AI which runs cleverly in the background. Embracing the possibilities right now may seem unnecessary, but history shows that technology will march forward impact on us. The question is will you be an early adopter or a co-opted bystander?