A professor of Wharton School of Business recently sought to test what OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT means for the prestigious school's business courses. He found out the chatbot successfully cleared the examination for Operations Management course with a B to B+ grade. 

Microsoft-backed ChatGPT, which is a natural language processing (NLP) tool trained on a massive amount of data and algorithms, has taken the world by surprise by generating human-like responses to a wide variety of inputs. 

The tool, which is barely three-months-old, has quickly become a valuable tool for many marketers, with some looking to replace human content producers with ChatGPT.

“ChatGPT is the first new tool in more than a decade that may really transform search and that could dent Google's market dominance,” AI researchers say. 

Seeing the boundless potential of the technology, Microsoft is not only investing heavily in OpenAI but also plans to integrate ChatGPT into its products like Bing. 

OpenAI has also announced a paid subscription service priced at $20 per month, which will give users faster response and priority access to upcoming features and improvements.

Alarmed with Microsoft's and OpenAI plans, Google CEO Sundar Pichai has also hinted that the company would roll out its own chatbot-LamDa-to upgrade its Search engine. 

Alarm bells for content creators?

Advertisers, who are already relying on various automation tools to create hundreds of digital advertisements in one go, have started off loading certain works like making first drafts of scripts, creative pitches and LinkedIn posts to ChatGPT.

Naturally, wordsmiths of the industry are concerned about the possible job losses in the future.

Josy Paul, Chairman at BBDO India, opines, “ChatGPT is knocking. One can open that door and embrace the possibilities, or view it as a threat. ChatGPT is here to generate ideas, offer solutions, and open up a world of access for everyone. It’s early days, and time will tell. But we can decide how we want to play with it. We are the DJs. It can make for a better experience.”

Human versus machine debate is eternal. Paul points out, “When computers were first introduced, people saw it as an enemy, but computers enhanced human capabilities. AI language models are good at creative work… may be more than factual analysis. When human intelligence (HI) and artificial intelligence (AI) combine, who knows, you could get infinite human intelligence (IHI).”

Vikash Chemjong, CCO, Cheil India finds chatGPT impressive, especially its “no-fuss personality”. 

“It’s amazing what ChatGPT can do. Some of the stories, poems, and articles are really, really good. And the scary bit is that it’s getting better every day. Plus, it doesn’t have an off day or a bad hair day, or food poisoning or post-breakup creative downward spiral or a midlife crisis or a sudden call of wanderlust or the weekend hangover,” he quipped in a wield remark over tantrum-throwing employees. 

He goes on, “It’ll surely come in handy to do the everyday work, at least groundwork. The grunt work. The classwork and homework [for my kids!]. Write emails. And also answer media queries. It’ll surely impact our industry.”

ChatGPT’s limitations have kept hopes alive in the industry. “The idea is to do something that the ChatGPT cannot – delve into the future. The new. Not done yet. Here’s to doing that!”

Can bots create catchy ads? 

Creativity is an innate ability that requires imagination, intuition, and emotional intelligence and cannot be replicated or duplicated by a machine. 

While chatbots are impressive, they still lack the ability to generate truly original ideas, concepts, and experiences. AI uses algorithms based on tonnes of old data created by humans. 

For instance, Google’s PoemPortraits generates poems from a single word using algorithms that drive its strength from scores of poems available on the net. Similarly, an artist robot "Ai-Da" draws and paints and ChatSonic can create images using algorithms fed by humans.

“Copywriting in the ad industry is much more than an algorithm,” quips Rohan Chincholi – Head, Digital Services - Havas Media Group India. 

Chincholi explains, “Copywriting is an understanding of the consumer, the context of communication, creativity and much more. This may not be necessarily a non-linear thought process for humans. But, for AI Chatbots, there is a sequence of learning that is coming into play there by impacting the quality of output.”

We need to do engagement testing: I am sure humans will outperform machines, he laughs. 

Can bots understand Brand Persona? 

The existing AI tools are still far away from understanding a brand persona and brand visual identity, say experts. 

Bharatesh Salian, Sr. VP - Marketing Science & CX, Kinnect, feels that the existing AI engines are intelligent but will still have to be trained to understand a brand persona, brand’s visual identity and the nuances of brand building and creativity.

“It can definitely learn from all the data points that have been fed in which powers the machine learning capabilities but it is still far away from understanding human behavior and emotions which a creative copywriter can bring to the table. For now, they can act as good assistants for content creators to take inspiration and make informed choices,” Salian quips. 

He noted that AI Chatbots can be effectively used to drive Conversational, Assisted and Personalized (CAP) Commerce Solutions. It will help in enhancing the customer buying journey by pre-empting and personalizing content basis relevance and user behaviour.

What about humor, nuances and empathy?

The content output usually generated by a typical chatbot isn’t anywhere close to the relatable, creative copies drafted by skilled copywriters, industry experts say. 

“ChatGPT is definitely a revolutionary introduction but even that lacks the human understanding of the cultural and social landscapes, which leads the writers to add a humorous word-play to the content, or to deliver it in ‘Hinglish’ rather than Hindi or English, among several other such nuances,” Shradha Agarwal, Co-Founder & CEO, Grapes: 

Agarwal noted further, “This is what elevates a string of words into an impactful piece of content. So, the rapid technological advancements might allow these chatbots to become a valuable resource for the copywriters in the near future, might even make some roles redundant, but in no way would they replace them completely.”

ChatGPT is proving to be an excellent thinking assistant, giving professionals the ability to effectively expand on their thoughts, innovation, and outlook, but it cannot be a replacement for the human mind, says Siddharth Bhansali Founder, Noesis.Tech, CTO Zoo Media. 

“The extent of imagination, curiosity, empathy, experience, and problem-solving acumen human beings hold is unmatchable by any technology,” Bhansali stated. 

According to Revathi Batola, Associate Director, Key Accounts, TheSmallBigIdea, AI chatbots’ biggest challenge is originality. “ChatGPT is programmed on a massive amount of data, which means it is churning out common, unremarkable content. This is where we can embrace the challenge of pushing beyond the predictable and offering remarkable content,” she remarks. 

AI programs do not eliminate jobs. They grow businesses and make jobs easier. It can find holes where things need to be fixed and suggest solutions. The idea therefore is to do something that the ChatGPT cannot – delve into the future. The new. Not done yet. Here’s to doing that!, suggests Chemjong.