How can ChatGPT help my small business?

ChatGPT was launched a few weeks back and is a new type of Artificial Intelligence (AI) model designed to generate human-like text using deep learning techniques. In basic terms, Chat GPT is a bot that can respond to text-based questions like a human by crawling its vast database of internet content for answers. Unlike other models in the market, ChatGPTs elegance comes from delivering straightforward responses to complex questions. It's super-fast, incredibly powerful, and the responses are incredible. If you don't believe me, don't take my word for it; let's check it out – I used ChatGPT to ask the question 'What is a small business?' and this is what it responded with:

A small business is a privately owned and operated company that typically has a small number of employees and relatively low revenues compared to larger businesses. Small businesses are often characterised by their ability to adapt to changing market conditions and to operate with a high degree of flexibility. They are an important part of the economy, as they can drive innovation and provide opportunities for entrepreneurs and workers alike.

As a large language model trained by OpenAI, ChatGPT can browse the internet and collate a human-like response to almost any question. Established in 2015 by Elon Musk and Sam Altman, several organisations, including the Elon Musk Foundation and the OpenAI Research Trust, currently support it. However, it is not owned by any one person or entity. Instead, it is a non-profit organisation dedicated to advancing the field of AI for the benefit of all.

So, what could ChatGPT be useful for in small business? One way a language model like ChatGPT can help a small business is by assisting with customer service. For example, ChatGPT can help answer frequently asked questions and provide information to customers in a personalised and efficient manner.

Additionally, a language model like ChatGPT can assist with tasks such as generating written content for a business's website or social media platforms. This can help save time and resources for the business, allowing them to focus on other essential tasks.

It could potentially be used by a small business in other ways too:  

• Generating product or service descriptions.  
• Creating marketing content for email campaigns or social media.  
• Writing blog posts or articles for a business website.  
• Transcribing audio or video recordings of meetings or interviews.  
• Checking website and app code.  

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At Thriday, whilst we are not directly integrated with ChatGPT, our approach to categorising transactions for bookkeeping borrows from some of the techniques used by OpenAI. Our categorisation was tested using a vast dataset of real-world transactions, and over time, as that dataset grows, our automation will only get better and better. Likewise, we see opportunities to use ChatGPT for various tasks in our business, such as enhancing our automated chatbot or even responding to written commands from customers, e.g. how much profit did I make last year?

ChatGPT is the most advanced version of a new range of language models that use AI. Language models are constantly evolving, and recent developments in artificial intelligence are happening all the time, so expect to see many new developments over the coming years. Microsoft, one of its earliest backers, is also strengthening ties with OpenAI, so expect to see the product integrated into Microsoft and Azure cloud services over the coming 12 months.

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Some of the most promising areas of research in AI include natural language processing, machine learning, and computer vision, all of which are being used to develop more advanced language models that can understand and generate human-like text.

It's difficult to say exactly what new features or capabilities these developments bring. Still, it is an exciting time for AI, and many exciting advancements are likely to come. As a small business owner, now is the time to start exploring these capabilities so that you can take advantage of them for your business today.