The Rise Of The Chatbot
March 28, 2023 | Hannah Pittman
How ChatGPT Can Help Special Districts
OpenAI’s automated conversational chat bot model has gained a massive following, but not all its test users are providing optimistic feedback about it. ChatGPT’s intelligence is impressive in that it not only provides quick, thorough responses to a wide range of questions, but it also gets smarter as the conversation continues.
This type of high-speed, information providing AI technology opens the potential gateway to improve the lives of individuals and societies. However, it’s clear that ChatGPT’s knowledge is limited and, in many cases, inaccurate and unreliable. Recent discoveries about its capabilities to provide users with malicious information have consequently proven it to be a serious threat to an entire systems’ cybersecurity.
We asked ChatGPT to describe what information and benefits it provides. Here is what it wrote for us:
One of the main benefits of ChatGPT is its ability to understand and respond to a wide range of topics and questions. It has been trained on a vast amount of data, including books, articles, and websites, giving it a broad base of knowledge to draw from. This allows it to provide accurate and relevant responses to a wide range of inquiries.Another advantage of ChatGPT is its ability to adapt to the user’s language and style. It can detect the tone and intent of the user’s message, allowing it to tailor its responses accordingly. This makes it a useful tool for customer service, where it can help to resolve issues and provide assistance in a natural and friendly manner.In addition to its conversational capabilities, ChatGPT is also useful for tasks such as language translation, text summarization, and content generation. Its ability to understand and generate text makes it a powerful tool for a variety of applications.Overall, ChatGPT is a powerful language model that has the potential to revolutionize the way we communicate and interact with machines. It has already made significant strides in natural language processing and is likely to continue to improve and evolve in the future.
With the buzz surrounding this new development in search and chat-based AI, we put ChatGPT to the test to see how it could help Colorado special districts:
How can automated technology improve the lives of businesses and communities?
- Customer service: ChatGPT can be used to provide quick and accurate responses to customer inquiries and complaints, improving the overall customer experience. A district that is public facing and has constituents can use ChatGPT as a customer service tool by integrating the model into their website, social media platforms, or mobile app. This allows constituents to receive quick and accurate answers to their questions and inquiries through natural language conversation, providing a convenient and accessible way for them to receive the information they need. Districts can also use ChatGPT to automate frequently asked questions and redirect complex inquiries to human customer service representatives as needed, improving overall efficiency and reducing response time.
- Content creation: ChatGPT can be used to generate high-quality content for a variety of purposes, including blog posts, social media posts, and marketing materials, freeing up time and resources for other tasks.
- Language translation: ChatGPT can be used to translate text and content into multiple languages, making it easier for businesses to reach a global audience.
- Data analysis: ChatGPT can be used to analyze large amounts of data and provide insights and recommendations for businesses, helping them make data-driven decisions. The data for ChatGPT to analyze is provided to it by users via text input, APIs, or pre-trained models suitable for specific use cases.
- Automation: ChatGPT can save time for a manager by automating repetitive and low-level tasks, freeing up time for more strategic and value-adding activities.
The bot isn’t perfect, however. Some of its major pitfalls include that it:
- Provides inaccurate, outdated, unreliable information
- “Makes stuff up” up to one-fifth of the time
- Is unable to intuit what exactly is asked of it from a user, resulting in varied responses
- Provides answers containing bias, hate, and malice
The ChatGPT developers are working to eliminate these pitfalls, including evaluating and refining incorrect answers. Due to its problematic responses, ChatGPT cannot be declared as a reliable source of information and thus its output must be taken with a grain of salt.
A serious cybersecurity threat of ChatGPT has recently been discovered that could affect a much bigger network than just individuals. A cybersecurity company known as Check Point Software Technologies says it found cases where users successfully received malicious code from ChatGPT that would allow users with limited technical skills to steal protected information, run malware, phish for credentials, and encrypt entire systems. Even though ChatGPT has certain response-moderation measures put in place, it is still far too easy for an amateur cybercriminal to trick the bot into providing procedures that cause harm.
While ChatGPT shows promise in revolutionizing the speed of which we receive information and the improvement of people’s lives, there are many problems that need to be fixed and upgrades that need to be made for it to become a reliable, safe information source.
Cyber Resources from the CSD Pool
Worried about how chatbots may affect your cybersecurity? These resources can help prepare you for a cyberattack, train staff, and increase your coverage sublimits.
eRisk Hub cyber resource portal is available to all organizations and employees that are a member of the CSD Pool. You can access individual training, tips for personal cybersecurity, and cyber webinars. For more information on how to sign up and get your staff access, visitcsdpool.org/erisk-hub.
Members also receive discounted rates for NetDiligence’s QuietAudit cyber assessments. Through this service, members are offered three different levels of assessments to look at network vulnerabilities and overall network health. Upon completion, members will receive a higher sublimit at no additional cost. This increase is $1M, up from $200k.
Want to try out Chat GPT for yourself?