It would be nothing short of a miracle if you haven’t heard about ChatGPT by now. Within a few weeks, it made it to the front cover of Time magazine. As you read this, the drama is unfolding so fast that one may liken it to the surreal car racing scenes in The Fast and the Furious.
And we haven’t seen the end of it yet. Rather, it’s just the beginning of something very disruptive. Indeed, Bill Gates inked the ChatGPT moment as something as momentous as the internet, the first computer and the first smartphone. Make no mistake, we are at a defining moment in the business world.
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is a Large Language Model (LLM), an advanced version of Natural Language Processing (NLP) that has been trained on massive amounts of data using machine learning (ML) techniques. Powered by neural network architecture, it can interpret the context and meaning behind a given text sequence.
The training process involves exposing the AI model to large amounts of text data and allowing it to learn using unsupervised techniques, followed by human feedback reinforcement.
After training, ChatGPT can converse with humans in a natural and meaningful way, making it a powerful tool for a wide range of applications.
It all started with OpenAI, the research lab founded by leading technology luminaries, who wanted to create artificial intelligence that is safe and beneficial to humanity. But now some of them, including Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak and Bill Gates, have called for a 6-month public, verifiable moratorium on further advancements in GPT models.
If that’s not enough, a tech ethics group filed an FTC complaint to investigate regulatory violations by GPT4 AI models. The camps are clearly divided: some see it as a powerful tool for progress, while others have expressed concerns about AI becoming the worst enemy of humankind.
Responsible AI and bias
While humans love the idea of intelligent productivity, the need for responsible AI has suddenly become extremely relevant.
Generative AI has biases, is known to hallucinate around facts (a factual error for Google’s Bard response tanked the stock by $100B), can express humanlike feelings, and even threaten people. These concerns have led to establishments like JPMorgan and Amazon banning the use of ChatGPT for their employees.
ChatGPT's ability to process vast amounts of information and generate fast, contextually relevant responses has the potential to upend traditional business models and create new adjacent industry ecosystems.
It’s already been utilised for SEO, content farming, cold selling, social media, coding—but it also presents a novel opportunity for enterprise B2B solutions to unlock new business models, differentiate better, address unmet personal pains and expand their total addressable markets.
How is Alight using the power of AI?
At Alight, we recognise the potential of AI/ML to revolutionise the way businesses operate and be a force multiplier for HR departments in driving the employee experience and outcomes.
We use a variety of AI technologies such as natural language processing (NLP), machine learning (ML) and natural language generation (NLG) to power our products and services.
Alight Solutions’ AI capabilities are used to improve the accuracy, efficiency and personalisation of our products and services.
For example, Alight’s AI-powered chatbots can answer employee questions about benefits and HR policies, while our AI-powered recommendations can help employees find the right benefits and retirement savings plans.
Furthermore, Alight’s AI-powered analytics can help employers identify trends and patterns in their data, while our AI-powered decision support can help employers make better decisions about HR and benefits.
Our AI can encourage employees to increase HSA contributions, or get a second health consultation after determining an increased risk for a health condition through recent insurance claims.
On the employer side, Alight’s AI helps organisations increase their 401k and HSA programs utilisation via “always-on” personalised messages to employees who weren’t saving or maximising their savings potential earlier.
Here are some examples of ways that ChatGPT and similar AI models can enhance the employee experience:
- Guide new hires through the onboarding process
- Generate action items from nurse transcripts
- Help employees set goals, track progress and receive feedback
- Allow employees to provide feedback and suggest organisational process improvements
- Enable customer care chatbots to respond faster
- Provide more in-depth natural language content for online communities
We are actively exploring LLM applications to improve the way Alight serves our clients' human capital needs via code, content and image generation use cases in engagement campaigns, content editor, back-office functions and standard operating procedures.
The disruptive potential of AI/ML—and specifically GPT models—cannot be overstated, and we are only at the beginning of this revolution. Business models are being redefined and no space will be left untouched, including employee experience.
