If we have to say so ourselves – ChatGPT is pretty cool. It has the ability to generate responses that sound just like a human to all kind of prompts, questions, and queries. ChatGPT learns from massive amounts of data, but some are asking – does it help innovators, or does it hinder their creativity by taking away from their creative process?
What are the positives of ChatGPT for innovators and creatives?
ChatGPT (and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in general) can support innovators by its ability to generate new ideas and solutions quickly. By inputting a question or prompt, users can receive a range of responses, including potential solutions to complex problems or new product ideas at speed.
This can be especially useful when there are short deadlines to generate new ideas in fast-moving industries like the tech or financial sector.
One of our Business Incubator members has embraced AI for what it was designed for – learning.
Jason Jackson, co-founder of Get Found, told us that they’ve “been using ChatGPT to help learn about the new industries we are working with at an exponentially fast rate compared to traditional research.”
However, he does have one caveat – “ChatGPT in isolation is only as good as the person using it.”
What are the negatives of ChatGPT for innovators and creatives?
Like everything great, there’s always drawbacks. One thing that makes innovation so important is the human touch, and by removing that from the creative process, you’re removing that vital element. This also means that some of the content can be unreliable, leading to flawed ideas and solutions.
There’s always the chance that users could become too dependent on it, stifling the creativity that drew them there in the first place. Plus, with more than 100 million individuals have used ChatGPT as of February 2023, becoming the online service with the most rapid rate of growth ever recorded*, it can only have so many “original” ideas.
Alem Al-Khamiri, Digital Director at Fuel Communications, and STEAMhouse Business Incubator member, has taken the side of Google’s algorithm. He told us that “Google has previously adopted a hard-line stance against AI-Content, and while that has softened over the past 12 months, I would assume that any degree of acceptance has been reluctantly adopted. Because of this, I am not using ChatGPT or any similar tool to write content for my clients, nor would I recommend it.”
Should you use ChatGPT for my innovation ideas?
Our view on ChatGPT is that it’s a valuable tool for innovators, but it’s not a substitute for human creativity and collaboration. ChatGPT can generate innovative ideas, improve efficiency, and provide new insights, but it can also limit creativity, reduce human interaction, and generate biased output.
Innovators and creatives can use ChatGPT as a tool, but not rely on it as the sole source of innovation or creativity. So, is the solution having a balance between human creativity and technological tools to drive innovation forward?
Ade Bullock, founder of Workup seems to have found a good middle ground. He says his company “have experimented with ChatGPT for generating code and marketing copy and it has been pretty impressive. It could provide a big step forward in productivity, especially for routine activities. In the future, the issue may be how you as a company can differentiate yourself when everyone has access to these tools.”
We look forward to seeing what the update GPT-4 will bring into the creator and innovator space!
*Source: 20 ChatGPT Statistics & Facts in 2023 from Cloudwards
