ChatGPT is “like a brainstorming partner who is tireless but not very smart.”
There are so many posts about how to use ChatGPT to transform your work and life. I’m not convinced by them.
I think the advice in a recent Washington Post article by Shira Ovide seems sensible:
- Don’t use ChatGPT for factual answers
- Do use it for inspiration
Let’s look at that second use.
I’ve seen examples where people have prompted ChatGPT to write reports, create spreadsheets and presentations, even write computer code. I tried it myself, asking the service to write an internal audit report for a fictitious payroll department without giving it any findings. It generated some words that looked like an audit report, but it made up the findings. It even wrote that management had agreed various actions to fix things.
I know I could have added actual findings and management actions into the prompt and got an audit report that would be closer to my desired result, but I would not trust it not to include rogue items because its algorithm predicted that such items would be in the report?
Where ChatGPT, and the like, could help you in your writing is giving you examples for style and content that you might not have considered. This does not just apply to writing internal audit reports. Perhaps you have been asked to write a business case and want some ideas about the structure and language used in such documents. Or perhaps you have to write to a customer to chase up a debt and AI might help you identify effective words to use.