How to Use ChatGPT In Small Business Responsibly
by TUCU Managed IT Services in Toronto
Chat GPT has is dominating headlines in new outlets, blog posts and podcasts. Giants like Bing and Google are leveraging this artificial intelligence language model to change the way we search for information. Companies such as Amazon user similar AI models to deliver customer service. Small businesses teams are using it for everything from emails to generating ideas for marketing content and more.
Have you used the tool? Did it immediately draw you in? You may be bubbling with enthusiasm and ideas on how to use it across the board, but it’s important to pause, plan and ensure you have considered the way things could go wrong. This will help you ensure that all team members can use the tool responsibly, accurately and with transparency.
Before you go further with how to use ChatGPT and other AI models in your business, these tips and guidelines can help you avoid pitfalls and maintain customer trust. Let’s dive into some best practices for using ChatGPT in small business.
Best Practices for Using ChatGPT in Small Business
● Understand ChatGPT’s Weaknesses
It is helpful to think of ChatGPT in this way; the language model is the software, and ChatGPT is the user interface. This really helps to frame ChatGPT’s weaknesses.
Despite appearances, it is not a true intelligence. It is drawing on language models that go up to 2021. Some information may be wildly inaccurate or not contextually related to your query. Some outputs will suffer greatly from bias issues.
ChatGPT may “hallucinate” or generate a response to your query that is pure fantasy and not at all factual. It will sound reasonable and well-articulated because it mimics natural language exceptionally well. Fact checking is your friend. It is best never to use ChatGPT responses without human review and editing. When you first use ChatGPT, you’ll see a warning about this.
This is still very new technology. It makes mistakes. It fails in ways we don’t recognize because we ae still learning how it fails. Daily it is tested, tweaked and new safeguards are added to prevent further mistakes, but is it very much a work in progress. Many experts argue that it was released publicly far too early, as the dangers of misinformation are real and potent.
In some ways, ChatGPT is like a toddler that needs constant supervision.
● Fact Check and Edit
For example, here at TUCU, as an IT Support Company in Toronto, we use ChatGPT to generate instructions for tech related tasks such as how-to setup Microsoft Authenticator, or how to troubleshoot keyboard language issues, and so on. We add these guides to our library of guides for clients. ChatGPT speeds up the process for our technicians as they don’t have to start with a blank page. However, there are commonly errors in CHatGPT output that we must correct or clarify before publishing.
Yes, if you ask it to, ChatGPT will write you an Acceptable Use Policy or a BYOD policy. To do that, it is pulling and merging content from multiple sources with varying context and credibility. This makes it highly likely that the auto-generated policy won’t be quite correct, applicable, or as fulsome as it needs to be for your purposes.
Always fact check and edit AI generated content.
Only use ChatGPT and other AI models as a prompt for, not a replacement for human-generated content.
When used responsibly, ChatGPT can be a very effective tool.
● Define ChatGPT's Role
Before integrating ChatGPT into your business, clearly define its role. The role can range from answering customers to generating ideas for new marketing or blog content.
Communicate ChatGPT's role in your small business role to all staff. Create a Use Policy and share it with your team. Outline exactly which tasks you approve for ChatGPT use and which you do not. This empowers your team to use it well and limit negative fallout.
● Protect Customer Privacy
In March, Italy banned ChatGPT due to data privacy concerns.
Privacy is a crucial aspect of any business, and ChatGPT should not be an exception. As you integrate the tool into your work, consider customer privacy. Currently, we advise that you do not enter any customer data in to ChatGPT.
As a small business, you likely do not have the resources to develop and test safeguards that giant corporations do. As such, we recommend erring on the side of caution by keeping sensitive information out of ChatGPT and other AI models for now.
● Ensure Human Oversight
ChatGPT is not a substitute for human interaction. It's crucial to have human oversight to ensure accuracy and to stop inappropriate responses that may negatively impact your clients or business.
Responsible Ways to Use ChatGPT in Small Business
● Integrate ChatGPT into Customer Service
Integrating ChatGPT into your customer service channels can help you to improve customer experiences, reduce wait or response times, and reduce workload for staff. You can integrate it into your website, social media, and other support channels. It can provide real-time responses to customer queries. Remember to keep a human in charge!
● Measure Performance and Optimize
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. An applicable phrase when testing ChatGPT for your small business.
Be sure to measure ChatGPT's performance to ensure that it is providing value to your business, and not alienating people. You can do this by asking for customer feedback and analyzing customer satisfaction, response time, and responses handled.
You can also look at your staff productivity. Is using ChatGPT to write the framework for customer emails saving time or does it take just as much time for your team to edit the outputs? Decide on approved uses accordingly.
● Be Transparent About Using AI
Be transparent. If you are using ChatGPT in your small business, customers will appreciate your honesty. To share how you use AI, you can simply state in your policies the following.
“We leverage AI for certain content, and always edit and fact-check its outputs.”
The use of AI-generated content is a murky area right now. Responsible companies tell their customers exactly where and how they are using it.
Get Help Navigating Business Technology
ChatGPT is a great tool but is still in its infancy. Integrating ChatGPT into your business requires careful consideration to ensure that it's effective and secure.
Like ChatGPT, your email platforms, password and two factor authenticators, antivirus and threat detection tools and IT security solutions are constantly changing. It’s wise to have professional guidance and support. TUCU is a Toronto Managed IT Services Provider for small business. We help teams like yours work with ease and security every day. Browse our site and contact us today to discover how we can help you with your technology management!
