People born in the 80s used to research in complex and challenging ways. Doing projects and theses meant staying long hours in the library and microfilm room and interviewing people as resources. But today, students have it easier thanks to virtual assistant apps, virtual personal assistant programs, and AI assistants.
Google searches have made complex tasks easier to complete through their machine learning and natural language processing capabilities. The Google Assistant answers your everyday questions with a few clicks and buttons. It’s easy to find things online as long as you have a strong internet connection.
You don’t even have to use a laptop to make a query. Open your smartphone phone wherever you are, and you’ll get thousands of search results in minutes.
As if these advancements in internet services weren’t enough, OpenAI has launched a new AI-powered app that does more complex tasks. It is called ChatGPT, and it is said to have the potential to replace Google Assistant, Bing search engine, Apple’s Siri, and other advanced virtual assistants with its human-like responses to text input.
Can you imagine what it can do if it’s said to be better than Google?
Read on and get to know the new AI assistant ChatGPT.
What is AI-Powered Virtual Assistant ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is not your average personal assistant app. It does not only respond to text inputs but also interacts in a conversational way. Unlike other artificial intelligence programs, its dialogue format lets it answer follow-up questions, decline inappropriate requests, and even admit its mistakes.
This virtual assistant uses advanced natural language processing techniques, allowing it to analyze the input text and generate a relevant response to that text. It makes you feel like you are talking to another person on the other end.
ChatGPT’s GPT-3 architecture allows the app to process large amounts of data while composing realistic and accurate responses.
Not only is this digital assistant suitable for research, but it is also useful for customer service and support thanks to its ability to interpret and understand natural language input.
Can AI Tool ChatGPT Detect Voice Commands? Does it Have Voice Interaction and Speech Recognition?
ChatGPT doesn’t use voice recognition technology and has no voice interaction. It cannot respond to voice commands and voice input either, but it is designed to generate text-based responses.
However, you may use voice recognition technology to convert voice commands into text, which ChatGPT can process. It means you need to use a separate voice recognition application with ChatGPT to generate a response.
Pros of Using ChatGPT as an AI Virtual Assistant
If you go to TikTok, you’ll see various videos and content creators going crazy over ChatGPT and everything it can do. Bloggers, vloggers, and people who use virtual assistants post various reactions online. You can see their excitement and positive response to the app.
We have rounded up some of the pros of using this virtual assistant. Check them out below.
Virtual assistant that generates quick responses
Most people today have a short attention span, making it necessary for virtual assistants to be quick in giving responses. Otherwise, users get bored waiting and are out of the virtual door in seconds.
ChatGPT can analyze text input and generate a useful and relevant answer. Type in your question or request and get the response within less than 5 seconds. It is necessary when using this AI assistant in customer support and service that demand quick responses.
Wide coverage of situations and topics
When OpenAI designed ChatGPT, they meant business. This AI assistant is not only for a few common topics such as technology, science, and history. It can also talk about any subject, situation, or topic under the sun. It also includes people, celebrities, entertainment, and others.
However, the accuracy of the responses of this virtual assistant depends on the data it has had training in. When you ask about a specific topic that it had training in, it will generate more accurate answers.
On the other hand, its answers to questions on topics it has not been trained in will result in low-accuracy answers.
Can be used for customer service and support
Alt text: Three CSRs on their laptops and wearing a headset.
Because of its conversational way of responding to questions, ChatGPT can be used for customer service and support. Not only that, but its answers are also quick, which is a requisite for handling customer support and enhancing customer satisfaction. Companies can use the app for customer service and make sure they address all issues.
ChatGPT can also provide personalized responses because of its natural language input capabilities. Are you using chatbots on your website? It is the virtual assistant you need.
Potential savings for not having to hire human virtual assistants
With this AI-powered virtual assistant, many companies can have potential savings for not having to hire a lot of workers.
For example, in customer service, you can already forego hiring numerous CSRs because the app can already generate responses without needing a human element. ChatGPT can perform administrative tasks typically performed by human beings.
Reduced Error Rates
This AI-powered app reduces error rates in many applications thanks to its ability to automatically generate responses. Because it no longer needs much human intervention, error rates go down.
Can be used by anyone
More advanced personal assistants and virtual assistants like ChatGPT are not just for professionals or those working from home. Anyone and everyone can use it–even students.
It can create to do lists, formulate text messages, and perform tasks through text input. If you need to create an article or a report, you can use ChatGPT to create an outline. Students can use it for research and projects. Type in your command or request and wait for the app to fulfill your request.
Translates text into another language
Use the app to translate your text into other languages. You can even command it to answer your question in a specific language.
For example, you can try typing ‘I am hungry’ and tell ChatGPT to translate it into Spanish. You’ll be amazed by the result!
It’s free
Yes, you read that right. Just as it can be used by anyone, ChatGPT is also free of charge.
You open the site, https://chat.openai.com/chat, register an email address, and type away your queries.
Sometimes though, the AI-powered app can get overwhelmed when you type in too many successive questions.
It will ask you to slow down and give it time. Otherwise, you’ll have to reset your search thread.
Cons of Using ChatGPT as an AI Virtual Assistant
Though many are amazed by the capabilities and advantages that ChatGPT is exhibiting, it’s important to note that it also has its cons. Let’s look at those cons below.
Need for large amounts of data for natural language understanding to be efficient
This AI powered app is designed to process large amounts of data; therefore, it needs large amounts of data to do its job. It means that if a topic doesn’t have such large amounts of data yet, then ChatGPT’s reliability and efficiency may be affected.
Possibility of giving inaccurate answers
The AI-enabled app is not perfect and may, therefore, generate inaccurate and inappropriate responses. It may be due to insufficient training data or limitations to the app’s capabilities. Another related issue is the app’s lack of morals, which users may see sometimes in its answers.
Possibility of bias
Using ChatGPT may mean getting biased responses since it is trained on a specific dataset. Because of this, the app may not be suitable for use in critical or sensitive situations where biases are to be avoided.
A knowledge base that ends in 2021
Anything you ask that’s beyond 2021 may yield inaccurate answers. The answers it can give are only limited to the data available during its training. Sometimes, you type in a question, and it says it cannot answer.
But if you tweak the same question into a different phrase, it may give you an answer. This means you may have to countercheck the answers against other search engines like Google for accuracy.
No real-time information
Unlike Google Assistant or Apple’s Siri, ChatGPT doesn’t have real-time information or information on current events. As already mentioned, this AI virtual assistant depends on the data provided during training and may not have data on specific events and locations since the training.
For example, if you ask about parking and traffic alerts in an area or city, it will tell you that it doesn’t have any real-time information and current events. So, it won’t be able to give you such detail.
Can compose believable phishing emails
One of the easiest ways to determine a phishing email is the poor grammar used in these scams. But if these cyber criminals decide to use ChatGPT, it may become difficult for us to spot this type of email. This is because this virtual assistant can compose a flawless email, complete with the information necessary to make the email look believable.
In one of the videos uploaded on TikTok, the vlogger asked ChatGPT to formulate a lease contract for him, which included specific terms. And yes, the tool generated what was requested, complete with all the requirements.
Can make young people lazy
It’s not just young people but everyone who uses it and finds themselves dependent on artificial intelligence to do their research work. Though it can help people find the starting point of their paper or research, they might be tempted to rely wholly on the app.
Will ChatGPT Replace Humans as Virtual Assistants?
This is a question that’s been plaguing many workers since AI assistants were born. Will it replace human beings as virtual assistants? Is this the end of the era of virtual assistants?
Though virtual assistance has been known to help companies and individuals in various ways, even more, advanced virtual assistants won’t completely replace human workers. Yes, they may be able to automate complex tasks through natural language processing, but they will never be able to replicate human capabilities.
With this, AI-powered virtual assistants may complement and assist human workers by automating tasks. It will enable users to focus on higher-level tasks that require expertise and judgment.
So, in a nutshell, workers need not worry about being replaced by AI tools but should learn to adapt and work with them.
On Which Devices Can We Use AI Assistants such as ChatGPT?
Like Google Assistant, Apple’s Siri, and other AI apps, ChatGPT can be used on various devices, including desktop computers, laptop computers, tablets, Android and IOS smartphones, windows mobile, and other devices with an internet connection.
What Can ChatGPT be Used for?
Aside from using ChatGPT for customer service and support, you can also use it for the following:
Content generation
If you need to compose articles or any content, you can use ChatGPT. Because of its natural language processing advances and language training, it can generate informative text that you can use for your content.
Chatbots
If you’re building a chatbot, you can use ChatGPT for its ability to interpret natural language.
Takeaway: Is ChatGPT Your New Virtual Assistant and Replace Google Assistant?
So, should ChatGPT be your new virtual assistant?
That depends on you. Given these pros and cons of using ChatGPT, we should be careful when using them indiscreetly.
For companies and organizations, there are ethical concerns about relying entirely on AI assistants as it may mean job loss for human workers. Unemployment may rise and consequently affect society.
For students and young people, too much dependence on AI assistants can render them lazy and inefficient when these technologies are removed.
Since it has no speech recognition or voice query capabilities, there may be limitations to ChatGPT. It can be inconvenient for those who need to use voice commands and voice queries to use a different app for voice recognition.
Given the pros and cons of using AI-powered personal assistants like ChatGPT, we can say that these apps are useful. However, we cannot say that ChatGPT, a natural language user interface can replace Google Assistant anytime soon.
It has no text and voice commands, while Google Assistant supports it. Secondly, the former has no real-time information and current events capabilities, while the latter has. Thirdly, its knowledge base ended in 2021, but Google continuously updates its databank with current events and real-time information.
FAQs
Check out these frequently asked questions to help you better understand ChatGPT.
Can we use ChatGPT to invoke a smart speaker?
Since smart speakers are voice-activated, you cannot use ChatGPT for them. You’ll need an AI virtual assistant that has voice commands.
How many people are using ChatGPT as a virtual personal assistant?
As of late, there are about 1 million people using ChatGPT. This is expected to continue growing, which might affect the service.
