An interview with Monica Zent and Sean McLean, originally posted on Insightful Accountant here.
September 21, 2023
The newest and coolest toy on the block, employers shouldn’t be fooled into thinking ChatGPT is an employee replacement. The truth is simpler. It is an efficiency-focused tool that can and will save you time and money, but only if you use it appropriately.
Let’s start from the beginning. By now you have heard of ChatGPT, but just what is it? A language model based on GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) that can generate human-like responses, ChatGPT isn’t technically Conversational AI, but it can be used as one by simulating conversations in a way that is relevant and helpful to the user.
It does this by interpreting user input through the lens of a massive corpus of data, generating a response, and engaging in a conversation. Deep learning techniques enable ChatGPT to understand context and natural language.
A powerful tool that can be used for customer service and virtual assistants, many are asking the question, how do I access it to use it for my business? The answer is, directly via chat.openai.com, and indirectly via integration with a growing group of vendors like Microsoft, Salesforce, Slack, Snapchat, Instacart, Shopify, etc.
And, just recently announced, users can access it directly via the iOS official app on your iPhone. Currently available in select countries, the app will be expanding globally as well to Android soon.
More importantly, you may be asking why and how you would use it for your business. The possibilities, as they say, are endless—to increase efficiency, lower costs, avoid redundancy, let us count the ways.
Specifically, ChatGPT can be used in business:
- As a personal/virtual assistant to draft emails, correspondence, book appointments
- As a creative brainstormer, giving you initial ideas that you can fine tune
- As a social media content creator, generating blogs or posts
- As a copy editor, providing template editing or training in tone and local compliance
- As a task manager, doing daily journal tasks and helping prioritize
- As a presenter, taking any YouTube or public video/document, converting it to script, and showcasing the Top 5 points
- As a data analyst wanting a simple way to explain raw data, generate code, or recommend visuals
- As a legal services provider, using a chatbot to provide basic legal information and guidance to clients, such as answering FAQs or directing them to resources.
Of course, for some specific use cases and industries, like the legal field, it’s a bit more nuanced. ChatGPT opens the door to many legal applications, access to resources, and savings for clients now and in the future. Already lawyers are using AI to research and analyze simple legal disputes, review, and draft documents, and offer insights into legal arguments.
It could easily be used to cull documents, provide verification and citations, and do preliminary assessments that usually take a large amount of time for junior or in-house counsel. The possibilities are only limited by the prompt given, the data provided, and what is legally allowed by state bar credentialing agencies.
The key question then becomes, how much should lawyers rely on this technology and does the use of ChatGPT need to be disclosed to clients?
There is always the potential for gaps in the information or missed nuances, so anything going through AI, especially complex legal questions, needs the eye of a trained lawyer or a sophisticated legal services professional who can cite, check and validate sources.
While ChatGPT is certainly capable of simple legal services, especially in areas that can be hard to navigate or that offer a splintered system that can be difficult to navigate such as divorce applications, ChatGPT is far from being a substitute for actual legal representation.”
The use cases are expanding exponentially as more features become available. In recent weeks, a few critical aspects have turned the corner, allowing most enterprises to legitimately start user adoption planning, primarily around the investment in ChatGPT Plus (not the free ChatGPT account). Data Privacy now is available as an option to keep your corporate data off the training model and protect the organization from inadvertent data breaches.
The “Web Plugins” feature is also now available, which means ChatGPT Plus is now connected to the internet. Many companies did not see the tool as viable until this happened. The use cases have expanded to current research, platform interaction, and the ability to integrate with limitless other tech solutions.
Plus, the previously mentioned mobile app wraps corporate use cases into the personal/professional life that most of us live daily with remote work. With secure and trusted platforms, even the most risk averse corporate cultures can envision return on investment.
With that said, if you are now excited to start the ChatGPT Plus journey, here are a few best practices:
1. Build an “AI Use Policy” – like all of the other HR policies in your organization, each company will need to define what is, and is not allowed from a governance, security, and control standpoint. Many business units can be polled when deploying this policy and leadership should take multiple stakeholder viewpoints into account before approving.
2. Don’t just look at the budget expense, but analyze the current cost of manual work that can be recovered for ROI. The easiest path is to start with repetitive tasks and present the cost savings realized as a result of the change (in particular the time spent on email correspondence for example or saving files into company systems).
3. Adjust the evaluation of work performance around utilization of ChatGPT. Many companies that have adopted AI tools are tying compensation and advancement to proper utilization of provided technology. This results in better corporate efficiency across all team members when the promotion of use is transparent.
4. Develop a QC/Validation protocol. The model is valuable but specific answers can “shift/drift” after initial training. A role around quality control is necessary.
With a tool as powerful as ChatGPT, it’s important to remember that it is not foolproof. Sensitive corporate data is not yet protected on the free account, which has led to concerns of leaks of proprietary information. With the recent announcement of new secure plugins, many authorized vendors are offering disclosures to assure end users that their data is protected. It’s important that users know how data will be used before they get involved with ChatGPT.
We must remember that the human element plays a huge role in the successful creation and execution of any content. However, when used properly, ChatGPT can be an efficient tool that saves companies time and money.
So, with these caveats in play, it’s time to embrace ChatGPT and explore what this exciting technology can do for your business.
Petrinovich Pugh & Company LLP has been named one of the fastest growing accounting firms by Inside Public Accounting. Sean McLean has served as their Director of Technology Consulting for 19 years and has extensive knowledge of the industry space and its ever-changing use of technology.
Monica Zent is an experienced entrepreneur, investor, businesswoman and trusted legal advisor to the world’s most well-known brands. Zent has been a successful entrepreneur for decades, creating companies in music, technology, real estate, law, and legaltech. Having secured several successful patents, Zent is also known within her circles as a leading technologist who has pioneered many new advancements in her field. She currently serves as CEO and Founder of ZentLaw.