Is ChatGPT Taking Your Consulting Career Away?
ChatGPT! A free artificial intelligence program that generates human-sounding responses to nearly any question you ask, will spout out a 500-word essay describing quantum physics with literary flair in less time than it takes me to write this sentence.
In the words of celebrated author Thomas Friedman,
“This is one of those moments in history when certain new tools, ways of thinking or energy sources are introduced that are such a departure and advance on what existed before that you can’t just change one thing, you have to change everything. That is, how you create, how you compete, how you collaborate, how you work, how you learn, how you govern and, programs, how you cheat, commit crimes and fight wars. We are the beginning of such phase.”
What is ChatGPT Anyway?
GPT stands for generative pre-trained Transformer in the technology product C,hatGPT. This is a subset of machine learning because it is a member of the large language models class of technologies. It's a tool that has been taught to understand and respond to text-based queries in virtually any style you desire by reading millions of pages of writing from all over the internet. It looks at a large amount of data, finds patterns in those and then uses those patterns to make predictions.
On November 30, 2022, ChatGPT was released to the public as a prototype. More than a million people had started using it in just five days.
Consider your high school competitive exams where you are shown a series of pictures along with a star, a triangle, a circle, and then another star, along with the question, "What comes next?" This is how ChatGPT functions.
It’s also important to know that like ChatGPT there are other generative AI models as well like BARD AI from Google, BING AI from Microsoft, and many others. Microsoft confirmed on Monday, January 30, 2023 that it’s making a “multiyear, multimillion-dollar” investment in OpenAI, and while they didn’t disclose the specific dollar amount – it’s reportedly a $10 billion deal.
The Revolution of Internet
Let's contrast the scenarios from before and after 2000. Prior to 2000, research was conducted manually using a significant number of paper clippings, journals, and books, which required a significant amount of time in libraries, a lot of labor, as well as money. After the year 2000, Google simplified research by bringing millions of pages that are ranked according to the text, which you can quickly scan through to understand and prepare. You can now search, scan, and predict the closest possible response to your research question thanks to ChatGPT.
ChatGPT has had a sizable influence on business and the workforce if we talk about them. It used to take days or even hours for businesses to finish the prerequisites before building a website, and a marketing campaign also had to be ready before launching. However, everything can be documented using ChatGPT in under 30 minutes.
How does it impact the Consultants?
There are two categories in which we can divide our work.
0-1 - This is more innovative, creative, and entrepreneurial, and it involves starting new
projects.
1-N- Once a playbook has been established, improve it, scale it across various industries and regions, increase productivity, and boost efficiency.
Experts/Consultants’ job is to develop new ideas based on issues, business context, and closer to 0–1 type categories. Experts' work will be exponentially enhanced and augmented by tools like ChatGPT.
The simple answer to the productivity question is that ChatGPT can remove writer's block and assist in producing expert-quality product best copies and collaterals. He could, for instance, draw an outline for the blog he wants to write. Add content, after which the author customises it with his own experience, adds creative images, and finally publishes. Using tools like chatGPT, for instance, can help provide (take an example based on the time) key insights based on customer notes, make thorough reports using your insights, comprehending lengthy documents, Meeting locations and judgements, which is another way to look at productivity.
These are simple situations. Consider a complex consulting project like developing a strategy.
Ideas, experimentation, evaluation, and storytelling are the foundation of strategy.
The most effective tactics are frequently original and illogical. ChatGPT can be used to suggest fresh, original ideas during the idea phase. First off, it is quick and simple to use. You can save yourself the hassle of bringing in additional guests. Second, it is simple to get past the propensity for conventional thinking. Third, it's simple to come up with lots of ideas. An expert can build further using various, unproven ideas.
After a business has outlined a few concepts, the topic of choice is discussed. By properly phrasing the question, you can test out a specific idea.
While it is not possible to outsource the experiments, scenario planning can be used to develop a narrative. Assuming you are developing a strategy for an organisation, you can explain the context, your idea hypothesis, and ask what the industry's future holds in order to anticipate the outcome.
One can pose questions like "market potential for specific products/services", "problem we can address", etc. during the evaluation stage. The main benefit is speed, which gives you a quicker way to test before moving on to a more thorough analysis. A good story has a good strategy. One can produce solid copy for a strategic narrative by utilizing ChatGPT.
What will the future of ChatGPT look like?
The world is currently more or less equally split between optimism and skepticism. On the one hand, there are predictions that technology will completely change how we live and work. On the other hand, there is a lot of skepticism about its limitations, motivated by doubts about the sincerity and transparency of its claims. Strong human + AI + Good process for using them is the best way to use chatGPT. You should think of them as trusted friends who can offer you advice, but it is ultimately up to you whether you follow it or modify it to suit your needs.
ChatGPT has the potential to develop into an excellent tool for boosting and enhancing human productivity. Currently, it accepts text or images as inputs, but in the future, it will accept any type of input. Experts can identify various use cases and use ChatGPT as a helper to cut down on the time and effort required to complete tasks. With increased productivity, tasks can be finished more quickly and effectively. By doing so, more opportunities across various client segments are now available for engagement.
Final Thoughts
In the end, it is always on the positive takeaways that we should focus on. In this context, let's concentrate on how ChatGPT will benefit the consultants by saving time, resources, and money, being efficient, giving them access to knowledge, and much more.
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