For decades, AI has been talked about as a technology for the future. No doubt that future has now arrived as more AI tools are now available for almost anyone to use. We have Google's LaMDA and BERT, Meta's BlenderBot, and OpenAI's Dall-E, all with incredible capabilities. And now ChatGPT has been added to the list of AI tools at our disposal. This new AI application caused quite a stir when the beta version was released to the general public. Some even believe that ChatGPT will eventually grow into the powerhouse that will end Google's dominance of the search engine market. But what exactly is this new AI that everyone is talking about, and how could it affect the ecommerce market?
WHAT IS CHATGPT?
ChatGPT is a powerful language generation model developed by Open AI. It has the ability to understand and respond to natural language input. This AI model was built with the promise of finally delivering a machine capable of communicating with humans in a conversational manner. Therefore, OpenAI wanted to train the model to respond with long texts, answer follow-up questions, admit its own mistakes, and challenge incorrect statements. After releasing the trial version of the technology for research purposes, this tool has largely fulfilled the promise of its creators.
ChatGPT is built on OpenAI's powerful GPT-3 (Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3) platform. With over 175 billion parameters and 570 GB of text, GPT-3 is trained on a wide variety of information on the Internet. This includes books, articles, encyclopedias, online forums and websites. OpenAI also has InstructGPT built in, which allows the sister model to follow the instructions verbatim. In addition, Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF) was used to train ChatGPT. Because of all of the above, this large language model (LLM) chatbot has developed the ability to go beyond next-word prediction to understand human intent and provide answers that meet human expectations.
In 2019, Microsoft invested $1 billion in OpenAI. ChatGPT launched on November 30, 2022 and gained over a million users in its first week. Some statistics suggest that the application has been used by more than 500 million people worldwide. It should come as no surprise, then, that Microsoft is poised to invest another $10 billion in OpenAI. That represents significant funding that will allow the developers to improve the existing technology. Certainly, exciting times are ahead.
WHAT ARE THE USES OF CHATGPT IN ECOMMERCE?
In short, the possibilities of ChatGPT are almost endless. It can be used in countless ways in practically all industries. Certainly, ecommerce is no exception. In fact, this AI tool may have the power to revolutionize the ecommerce space. The applications for ecommerce are numerous, but mainly in the field of content production. Here are four great examples:
- EMAIL MARKETING: ChatGPT can improve email marketing in many ways. It can create catchy headlines and full promotional emails in the style of successful marketers or brands in seconds. If the AI gets enough information, it can personalize the email content for customers in a particular segment.
- BLOG POST: Blog posts are great ways to share information about a brand and its product. ChatGPT can write topic overviews or full articles. The ability to understand and follow instructions allows writing within the specifications of word count, writing style, and inclusion of specific topics. In addition, the AI can help perform keyword research to optimize blog posts for search engines.
- POSTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA: AI-generated ecommerce content can also extend to social media posts. For instance, it can generate captions and copy for Twitter, IG, and Facebook. It can also use high-performing hashtags to improve post visibility.
- LIVE CHAT: Most customers demand instant answers to questions while expecting answers to be personalized. ChatGPT can solve both problems. Ecommerce store owners can integrate GPT-3 into their live chat systems using APIs or other methods and get great results.
WHAT ARE THE PROS AND CONS OF USING CHATGPT FOR ECOMMERCE CONTENT PRODUCTION?
Producing ecommerce content with AI like GPT-3 can be a useful venture. In addition, training the AI to understand specific industry terminologies increases effectiveness. However, there are also some drawbacks to this. Undoubtedly, understanding the pros and cons of OpenAI's latest tool is critical to getting the best out of it.
PROS
IMPROVES STAFF PRODUCTIVITY
A clear benefit of using ChatGPT for content production is improving staff productivity. Ecommerce brands can automate social media and email content, Google ads and more. This frees up employees' time for other important sales, marketing and customer service activities. While many worry that tools like ChatGPT could put ecommerce brands' staff out of work, there's an opposing logical argument. While it's an incredible technology, GPT-3 offshoots aren't yet at the level needed to make humans obsolete. However, brands that embrace these tools can save time and resources and improve the quality of workforce output. As a result, the entire organization runs more efficiently.
GREAT FOR SEO
E-commerce brands are in an endless battle for visibility. Indeed, excellent performance on search engine results pages is associated with increased visibility. ChatGPT can improve SEO efforts in many ways. For example, it can generate high-quality keyword-rich content for ecommerce websites. It can also generate metadata that effectively summarizes the content of a page. In addition, it can write product descriptions, tags, and categories to help search engines better understand the content of the website. All of these capabilities can take a brand's SEO efforts to the next level, giving them more visibility in the process.
SUPPORTS CUSTOMIZATION EFFORTS
The importance of personalization is well established. In fact, 90% of the online companies have already invested in some form of personalization. Using GPT-3 is one way to speed up efforts to customize content for customers. ChatGPT can analyze customer data, such as demographics and purchase history, and use the insights to build personalized email content and product and content recommendations. No doubt this will contribute to a richer customer experience.
COST-EFFECTIVE AND SCALABLE
The economic implications are generally favorable to brands that can afford to implement GPT-3. AI tools can increase the speed at which brands produce ecommerce content. In addition to speed, AI can increase the quality of content. This means more effective social media and Google ads and better conversion rates from email marketing campaigns. As a result, companies can generate more revenue and grow their brands. Therefore, it can be beneficial for companies looking to scale.
CONS
REQUIRES HUMAN SUPERVISION
ChatGPT is not yet self-sufficient in its current form. Open AI has openly admitted some limitations and more have come to light during the research preview phase. For example, ChatGPT often requires detailed and specific instructions to produce satisfying content. In addition, the data set used to train this model limits knowledge to 2021. This means that the machine is not aware of events that occur after that period. Since it gives long answers, one might also be tempted to believe everything the model says. However, it has been shown to produce responses that appear plausible, but are in fact false. For these reasons, humans should be assigned to edit and fact-check all AI-generated e-commerce content.
MAY REQUIRE SPECIAL TRAINING
It is important to note that ChatGPT is a general purpose LLM. Therefore, ecommerce brands may need to specially train the model to ensure it can deliver the aforementioned applications. The downside to this is that the process of training the model for e-commerce can be time consuming and capital intensive. Consequently, small businesses may not be able to maximize the AI technology for their services.
DATA PRIVACY AND SECURITY CARE
ChatGPT's performance as an ecommerce content production tool depends on data access. But feeding the AI with customers' personal information can lead to data privacy and security issues. Consequently, this can lead to lawsuits and lead to a loss of customer confidence. Therefore, brands need to go a step further to ensure they comply with data regulations while using this AI.
AI GENERATED CONTENT MAY BE WATERMARKED IN THE FUTURE
There are significant ethical concerns associated with using ChatGPT. For example, people could use it to create fake product reviews and descriptions that mislead customers. Therefore, many have suggested watermarking the content, and it seems that the developers will accept this suggestion. If this eventually happens, many brands using AI-generated content could lose their credibility in the market.
In conclusion, ChatGPT is a powerful AI tool applicable to e-commerce. However, companies should carefully weigh the pros and cons before making long-term decisions. It is also essential to note that the model is in its early stages. OpenAI will release GPT-4 sometime this year. At that point, the feedback from the research preview version of ChatGPT would have provided excellent insights. Therefore, the technology will only improve, reducing the limitations with time. It's an interesting situation for all ecommerce stakeholders to monitor in 2023.