Enterprise Update on ChatGPT

Artificial intelligence (AI) research and deployment company OpenAI recently announced the official launch of ChatGPT, a new model for conversational AI. According to OpenAI, the dialogue provided by this platform makes it possible for ChatGPT to “answer follow-up questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises and reject inappropriate requests.”Since its launch, social media has been abuzz with discussions around the possibilities — and dangers — of this new innovation, ranging from its ability to debug code to its potential to write essays for college students. In this podcast, we sit down for a conversation with Bern Elliot, VP Analyst at Gartner, to discuss the broader implications of this innovation and the steps that organizations should take regarding the use of these tools. Gartner has published a number of research pieces regarding ChatGPT (see recommended reading below). Here are a few of the common questions that set the stage for our interactive dialogue on the podcast.Q. What is ChatGPT and how does it work? Chat Generative Pretrained Transformer, or ChatGPT, is a chatbot and generative language tool launched by OpenAI in November 2022.1 The ChatGPT models compute the most probable set of letters or words when given an initial starting phrase, or “prompt.” ChatGPT is built on top of OpenAI’s GPT-3 family of large language models and enables interaction with a model via a conversational user interface. ChatGPT was trained using 300 billion words taken from books, online texts, Wikipedia articles and code libraries, then fine-tuned with human feedback.On 16 January 2023, Microsoft announced the introduction of Azure OpenAI Service, which includes ChatGPT along with language models and added enterprise services..2 It is important for enterprise planners to distinguish between the OpenAI ChatGPT and the Azure OpenAI Service. The Azure version promises significant enterprise operational features, but is still emerging at the time of writing.Q. What role will ChatGPT play in the enterprise? ChatGPT, and foundation models like it, will be used as a tool alongside many other hyperautomation and AI innovations. It will form part of architected solutions that automate/augment humans or machines, and autonomously execute business and IT processes. As generative AI takes its place alongside existing approaches to work, ChatGPT or other competitors will be used to replace, recalibrate and redefine some activities and tasks that form part of many job roles.Q. How much does ChatGPT cost? The current research preview version of ChatGPT, which is the only version users could access up to the end of January 2023, is free of charge. However, there is no guarantee that this free service will persist, and it could be withdrawn at any time. OpenAI recently announced the launch of a pilot subscription plan for ChatGPT Plus for $20 a month.3ChatGPT will also come to the Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service soon, but the pricing for that is currently being rolled out.4 It is possible that significant elements will be bundled with different Microsoft 365 software subscriptions.Q. Should I provide ChatGPT-powered experiences directly to my customers? No — this is too high a risk at present for most use cases, except in rare cases, possibly related to gaming or entertainment, where the correctness or impartiality of the content may have less scrutiny. Gartner expects the ChatGPT service to change rapidly over 2023 and to be complemented by other offerings. It is important for enterprise planners to distinguish between the OpenAI ChatGPT and the Azure OpenAI Service.  Gartner also expects several competitors will enter this market alongside ChatGPT. In particular, Gartner expects organizations like Baidu, IBM and Google to come to market early in 2023, along with a crop of smaller players. For example, on 6 February 2023, Google announced the introduction of its own offering, Bard.Footnotes:1 Introducing ChatGPT, OpenAI.2 Azure OpenAI Service, Microsoft.3 Introducing ChatGPT Plus, OpenAI.4 General Availability of Azure OpenAI Service Expands Access to Large, Advanced AI Models With Added Enterprise Benefits, Microsoft. Host Frances Karamouzis is joined by our expert analyst, Bern Elliot. Elliot is a Gartner vice president and distinguished analyst. His research focus is artificial intelligence generally, with an added focus on natural language processing (NLP), machine translation, and customer engagement and service.