Does ChatGPT Present a Threat to the Labor Force?

If you haven’t already used ChatGPT, then maybe it’s time to give it a go.  I will admit the novel aspect of asking it to perform certain tasks is very impressive. I personally asked it to perform several challenging tasks related to my industry and its off-the-shelf capability meant it could be a usable tool in hiring almost immediately.    

Before we continue, let’s remind ourselves there are alternatives to ChatGPT, or the ‘Super Chat Bot’ as I am dubbing it, such as Jasper, Bard and ChatSonic. All of these are allegedly equally as good, but I would imagine that is subjective and dependent on the task requirement and the user’s opinion of the outcome. 

As good as these Super Chat Bots (SCB) are, what do they mean to us? To us consumers, they may infinitely improve our experiences and ability to extract information at any moment from the internet. The experience of asking a question is no different from asking Google a query. But in this circumstance, the response is turned into relevant conversational-based language that feels far more natural to the way humans interact and it improves our ability to find answers and perform tasks with the computer's assistance. The fact that these services will improve consumers lives is obvious; however, if this technology is so good, does it mean that it could replace humans in certain work tasks, such as customer services, web development or coding? What about healthcare? Dare I even say teaching? 

Let's talk about the job sectors I believe are at threat of losing humans to technology with an effective application of ChatGPT: 

Healthcare

By inputting photos and typed symptoms, ChatGPT could easily diagnose any condition you may have; furthermore, with the input of blood and urine samples it could tell you exactly what is wrong with you and with controlled security. What stops prescriptions and medication being allocated to a patient if the correct process is followed? What’s the need for a doctor or nurse in this scenario?  I truly believe it’s only a matter of time until this labor may be displaced in the masses.   

Legal Advice

Imagine an AI-driven version of LegalZoom. Again, with all law being recorded and a matter of interpretation, what stops a program like ChatGPT from becoming the go-to for advice for legal matters? Again, the displacement of legal professionals is somewhat inevitable as in many cases, there are very black and white rules when it comes to the law, and it may not require a human to provide that information.  

Accounting 

This is the field I believe is truly under fire. There are currently technology solutions like TurboTax providing automation to basic tax returns, but the technology could further takeover the production of accounts for businesses or provide other forms of tax returns such as corporation tax. All these functions could be performed by an automated interaction chat bot solution, powered with AI, and could comfortably manage the user through a process and successfully complete tasks in these fields without the need for humans.   

Recruitment  

It appears to me that ChatGPT is sophisticated enough to write a job description, read a resume and deem that it is relevant to that job description. It could then walk a candidate through questions, testing, credentialling and all the core steps that are required to take a jobseeker through to a hirer.  It may even go one step further one day and be the technology that actually completes the hiring, removing the hiring manager or internal recruiter. As consumers become more digitally exposed and comfortable, it’s a forgone conclusion that we will become equally dehumanized with processes and will feel natural working with AI and tech instead of a person.  

ChatGPT Enforces Dehumanization

If anyone reading this has children, you are about to completely understand where I am going. We have a young generation who have been raised on electronics. Teenagers today are glued to their phones and will communicate through this medium more than physically seeing each other. We have created a generation of humans who are far more dehumanized than previous generations and they are comfortable with digital-only experiences. ChatGPT is another major technological leap toward the dehumanization of our species, and I don’t mean to be morbid or a technophobe as that is definitely not the case; what I tell you here are facts.    

This is another solution that is so good at completing our day-to-day tasks that the consumer will desire it, and the next generation is so digitally engrossed they will rely on it. Businesses are profit-driven so the ability to remove overhead and the burden of human capital will drive this technology forward as a method to profit maximization. The writing on the wall is this: further dehumanization in our day-to-day life, while displacing the human capital that once would have served those jobs.    

This is the fifth industrial revolution in full swing – what remains to be seen is if it will truly improve humankind lives overall or not?   

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

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