Terms such as “ChatGPT” and Generative AI are becoming increasingly present in the media and in our conversations. The rising usage rates of the well-known chatbot ChatGPT suggest that these are no longer just buzzwords, but that these innovative technologies have already become an important part of our (professional) everyday lives.
While large companies have usually already made initial attempts to integrate ChatGPT or Generative AI into their business processes, it is still difficult for many SMEs to assess how ChatGPT can be used sensibly and how possible risks can be eliminated. In the following article, I give some tips on how SMEs can also benefit from the new opportunities.
What is Generative AI?
Generative AI refers to artificial intelligence models that are able to generate content independently, be it text, images or sound. These models are trained on large amounts of data and learn to recognize and replicate patterns in this data.
And now comes ChatGPT. ChatGPT is an example of a chatbot that uses GPT (Generative Pretrained Transformer) technology to generate human-like texts. Through training on millions of Internet texts, ChatGPT has learned to communicate in natural language and respond to a variety of prompts. While conventional chatbots could usually only communicate in very simple language and could only talk about very limited topics, ChatGPT can have really natural-sounding conversations and has a very broad range of knowledge and topics. ChatGPT can not only generate answers to questions, it can also create texts and much more for us. I explained the question “What is ChatGPT?” in more detail in one of my last posts.
How does ChatGPT work?
ChatGPT is, as explained above, AI model developed to have human-like conversations with humans. It is based on the GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) architecture from OpenAI. GPT works by analyzing large amounts of text data and recognizing patterns. It learns by using these patterns to make predictions about the next word or phrase in a text.
ChatGPT uses its ability to understand natural language to analyze the user’s input and generate an appropriate response based on it. It takes into account the context of the previous messages and attempts to provide a meaningful and relevant response. ChatGPT is available free of charge to all interested parties via the OpenAI website.
What are the main functions of ChatGPT
As mentioned above, ChatGPT not only answers simple questions, but can also generate texts and other media content for us. Below are the most important functions that the chatbot already has today.
Text generation: ChatGPT can generate text in a human-like manner. This enables the model to respond to user input in natural language.
Question-answer system: When you ask ChatGPT a question, it tries to give the most appropriate answer based on its training.
Context understanding: ChatGPT can understand the context of a dialog and generate responses based on this. The technology takes into account previous messages in a conversation to provide contextualized answers.
Text translation: Although it was not primarily designed as a translation tool, ChatGPT can translate texts between different languages.
Text summary: ChatGPT can convert long text passages into shorter, summarized forms.
Idea generation: ChatGPT can provide suggestions or ideas on a given topic.
Code generation and help: ChatGPT can also answer simple programming questions and generate code examples.
Entertainment: ChatGPT can tell stories, make jokes and interact in general conversations.
Application examples of ChatGPT in SMEs
SMEs are usually characterized by the fact that there is at least one well-trained team for the company’s core competencies and other teams that divide up other tasks such as communication, marketing, social media, accounting, HR management, recruiting, etc. Employees usually don’t just have one task, but have to cover a wide range of skills. ChatGPT can support the employees of SMEs, especially in areas that are not part of the company’s core competencies, thus significantly increasing efficiency in the background.
Create summaries
In principle, summarizing texts is one of the main functions of ChatGPT. ChatGPT can analyze long texts and highlight the key points to create a short and precise summary. It recognizes patterns and repetitions in a text and can use this information to create an efficient summary. Here are some of ChatGPT’s strengths when it comes to summaries:
- Master large volumes of text: ChatGPT can process large volumes of text in a short time.
- Identify key points: It can recognize key information in a text and highlight it in the summary.
- Neutral summary: Unlike people who may be influenced by their personal opinions and biases, ChatGPT provides an objective summary of the text.
Create website texts
With the help of suitable instructions, it is possible for ChatGPT to generate high-quality website texts for your SME. It is essential that you provide ChatGPT with detailed information regarding the content of the requested website, including specific information about your service or product offering. A precise definition of the target group is also recommended. ChatGPT is then able to create corresponding texts and also take proven SEO guidelines into account.
ChatGPT can also carry out a keyword analysis for your company and make relevant recommendations regarding the design of your website or website texts.
Create blog posts
ChatGPT offers employees who manage the SME’s blog a helpful and new tool to simplify content creation and content research. With appropriate and well-thought-out prompts, you as authors can save time and gain creative ideas for your articles, while the quality of the content is improved. Prompts are the commands that you give to ChatGPT. More about prompts in one of my last posts.
And everything you need to know about ChatGPT and blogs can be found in this article.
Developing social media plans
ChatGPT can also create social media plans and generate the corresponding posts. You need to give ChatGPT some information about your product or the content of the post, name the target group and, if applicable, the relevant social media channels. ChatGPT will then create a social media plan for you. It is up to you how much additional information you want to give ChatGPT. For example, you can also give ChatGPT information about your marketing budget or you can deliberately leave this open and wait to see what ChatGPT would recommend.
Prepare employee certificates
Not all SMEs have a specialized HR department. With ChatGPT, this skills gap will soon be barely noticeable. You can ask ChatGPT to create testimonials or reference letters for your employees. Please note, however, that you should never pass on personal or confidential employee data to ChatGPT. You should always anonymize information such as name or address when you ask ChatGPT to create a certificate or similar. You can find out more about the correct consideration of data protection towards the end of this article.
Generate draft contracts
The use of ChatGPT for legal issues is usually very controversial. While ChatGPT provides some very good legal information, a lot of fake news has already emerged in this area. Nevertheless, you can ask ChatGPT to generate a draft contract for your use case. However, you should definitely check this draft contract before it becomes legally binding.
Take on research tasks
A frequently used function of ChatGPT is to take over research tasks. ChatGPT can research the topics relevant to you and your SME and provide you with a summary of the results. You can decide for yourself how detailed the research should be and in what form you want to receive the results.
Create event invitations
ChatGPT can help you plan and organize your next event. It can create a task list or checklist for you. The chatbot can also generate invitation texts for you. It is interesting to note that ChatGPT can create the same event invitation for different target groups and different media or formats in just a few minutes.
Challenges and concerns when using ChatGPT
Data protection and security aspects when using ChatGPT
Of course, when using ChatGPT, there are also relevant aspects that need to be considered with regard to data protection and security. In general, all information that employees send to the ChatGPT chatbot is processed by the language model and can also be used for further training purposes of the system. It is therefore advisable not to exchange any sensitive or confidential data with the ChatGPT chatbot. You can ask ChatGPT to write a reference, but you should not share any data about the individual employee, but anonymize it beforehand. You can also find out more about data protection and ChatGPT in one of my last posts.
Incorrect answers from ChatGPT
The general chatbot ChatGPT is based on a wealth of knowledge from the Internet. Not all information is always correct. It is therefore possible that the chatbot ChatGPT from OpenAI uses an incorrect knowledge source and therefore also produces an incorrect answer. It is therefore important to critically scrutinize all ChatGPT results.
Need for appropriate training and preparation of employees for the use of ChatGPT
To ensure that ChatGPT and Generative AI are used correctly without violating ethical principles or legal rules, your employees need training. It is important that employees understand the opportunities and limitations of the tool and can then use it correctly in appropriate situations.
Conclusion: ChatGPT for SMEs
ChatGPT is no longer just a hype topic, but a technology that is already being used successfully by many companies today. SMEs should not shy away from testing the possibilities and limits of ChatGPT and Generative AI and integrating them into their everyday lives.
I am happy to support you in using ChatGPT, give you tips for suitable prompts and make sure that you use the tool ethically and in accordance with data protection laws.
Send me a quick WhatsApp message or email and we can discuss together how I can best support you and your SME.
