ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence technology that has the potential to replace numerous jobs. Despite its limitations, the AI tool possesses capabilities that are similar to human intelligence.
The shockingly sophisticated chatbot, which is freely available to the public, is already upending certain professions since its November release.
This has resulted in Microsoft laying off 10,000 staff and choosing to invest billions into the chatbox technology instead.
Now, experts around the world worry that the application’s popularity and usage could potentially affect many well-paid workers.
An associate dean in the department of computing and information sciences at Rochester Institute of Technology, Pengcheng Shi, told the New York Post that “AI is replacing the white-collar workers. I don’t think anyone can stop that”.
Sectors likely to be affected by AI- ChatGPT
According to the experts, below are the sectors and jobs that are very likely to be affected by the growing popularity of ChatGPT.
1. News-gathering: Although it can produce articles, the technology is having trouble making a name for itself in the news-gathering industry as it produces mixed results.
2. Copy-editing, summarizing, and creating headlines: Copy editing is unquestionably a skill at which it excels. It does a great job of summarizing, condensing an article, and other related tasks. Additionally, the tool excels at creating headlines.
3. Website and graphics designers: ChinmayHegde, a professor at NYU, argues that website designers and engineers responsible for very simple coding are at risk of becoming redundant. AI may create a code that is hand-tailored to a user’s demands and parameters to build websites and other IT components.
4. Finance and healthcare: Finance, healthcare, and publishing are among the vulnerable businesses. Humans will discover how to utilize AI as it continues to make incredible progress.
5. The Academia: The tool can instruct students in middle or high school. For instance, ChatGPT surpassed several people during an MBA exam taken by Penn’s Wharton School.
After Darren Hick, a philosophy professor at Furman University in South Carolina detected a student cheating with the popular program, he remarked that the finding left him in “abject horror.”
Software Engineering: According to Shi, “Relatively uncomplicated software design jobs will be a thing of the past by 2026 or sooner. As time goes on, probably today or the next three, five, 10 years, those software engineers, if their job is to know how to code … I don’t think they will be broadly needed”.
Limitations of ChatGPT
The tool has some limitations currently, although it is likely there will be advancements coming up. In the meantime, below are the current limitations
Bugs and inaccuracies: ChatGPT has bugs and inaccuracies in terms of knowledge, but can be easily improved as you just need to train it.
Inability to create an independent thesis: Doctoral candidates hoping for a shortcut to create a thesis may not be lucky as the tool is beyond AI’s abilities for the time being.
The inability to fact-check: The tool cannot fact-check efficiently.
The inability to provide accurate citations: It can easily provide an essay but with made-up citations
Human decisions are still needed: In theory, AI could teach without supervision, but Shi and Hegde maintain that for the foreseeable future, college courses will require a human instructor. They are confident that important financial and economic decisions will almost certainly always be made by humans, even if the data sheets are not.
What this means for the labour force in Nigeria
Many jobs could be lost in the coming years, as bots like ChatGPT continues to improve. As the unemployment rate in Nigeria is currently high, one wonders what unemployment gap this will create for the average Nigerian.
Hopefully, the government and the private sector will look into this trend to avoid a foreseeable disaster.
