It’s been the talk of the town since Open AI released it in November: ChatGPT. Seemingly the most advanced public chat AI that we’ve come across to date. I have been active in trying out the technology over the last few months, with it initially surprising me by the breadth that it could write. I jumped so deep into testing mode that I even got it to write some of my Christmas cards to distant family members. But the more you use it the more you see its limitations . So don’t worry copywriters, marketers and those on social — I don’t think we’re out of a job…yet!

So what does ChatGPT ACTUALLY do? Chatbots like ChatGPT use vast amounts of data and advanced computational techniques to generate coherent responses by combining words in a meaningful way. They have access to a huge vocabulary and can comprehend words based on context, allowing them to imitate speech patterns and offer a wealth of knowledge.

"There's a saying that an infinite number of monkeys will eventually give you Shakespeare. There's a large number of monkeys here, giving you things that are impressive — but there is intrinsically a difference between the way that humans produce language, and the way that large language models do it"- Matthew Sag a law professor at Emory University who studies copyright implications for training and using large language models like ChatGPT.

From my own anecdotal experience I tend to agree with Matthew. When I tried to get it to write a Christmas card to my partner, it wasn’t able to embody the emotional side and personal touch that my own writing could achieve. On a more practical level, it theoretically could be fantastic for research, however, it currently isn’t strong on the referencing front which prevents it from being a reliable source.

Stepping back from this personal experience, here are the current advantages and concerns I hold from a social media perspective:

Advantages:

1. Enhanced Data Analysis: ChatGPT can analyse large amounts of data and provide insights into customer behaviour and preferences, enabling businesses to make data-driven decisions about their social media strategy.

2. Could Assist with Community Management: ChatGPT could assist with challenging responses to consumers, helping us rephrase and soften our approach with language suggestions.

Risks and Concerns:

1. Lack of Empathy: Unlike human social media managers, ChatGPT does not have the ability to understand emotions or show empathy in its interactions with customers. This can lead to a lack of connection in copywriting or with customers and a negative impact on brand reputation.

2. Privacy Concerns: The use of ChatGPT raises privacy concerns, as the technology collects and processes large amounts of personal data.

3. Bias and Misinformation: ChatGPT is only as good as the data it is trained on. If the training data contains biases or misinformation, ChatGPT may propagate these inaccuracies in its responses and interactions.

While ChatGPT offers a number of benefits to social media managers, we need to take this new technology with a grain of salt. It is only trained up until 2021 data currently and while seemingly confident, many responses can be incoherent and make no sense. 

I sat down and asked one of our founders, Nick Smith for his thoughts… “ChatGPT, and more broadly the OpenAI platform, has opened the world's eyes to this technology. There is no doubt that AI-powered tools will continue to revolutionise the way we work and play. The evolution of these technologies feels like it’s happening at a pace faster than it ever has — and this pace will only increase. As their applications become more advanced, integrated and widespread, they will serve a greater purpose. Advertisers and marketers should be excited by these possibilities, not threatened. 

As the saying goes, consumers don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. Brands looking to leverage AI in their marketing should do so to “help them do what they do, not prove why they do it.”