From its launch in November 2022, much buzz has been generated about the impact of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in various fields, from academia to journalism to customer service.

In just two months, it has built a following of 100 million users, the fastest app growth of all time.

Microsoft is integrating this chat AI tool into its search engine, Bing.

There is a scramble by other companies to do the same with their own tools, such as Alibaba, Baidu, Google, JD.com and NetEase, sparking a new browser war.

ChatGPT has also raised concerns about even more dangerous deep fakes, biased content, and phishing and scam mails.

Hailed as the next great change in technology alongside the Internet and the smartphone, Elon Musk, who co-founded OpenAI, probably said it best: “ChatGPT is scary good. We are not far from dangerously strong AI.”

CRITICAL HELP FOR STARTUPS

Startups have begun using ChatGPT. In essence, the tool can help startups do more, do faster, and with less resources. For startups, this could be critical.

The low-hanging fruit is using the tool as an assistant and guide in coding — automating mundane aspects, providing examples of how others have done a task, removing bugs, even suggesting improvements, leading to much faster development and iteration.

In the cut-throat world of startups, time is of the essence. Businesses which deliver within a week or even days ahead of its competitors can make all the difference.

Take for example Huneety, a Southeast Asia-based human resource startup specialising in talent sourcing using technology.

The company has used ChatGPT to auto generate job description templates for its clients, complementing its in-house skills mapping technology. This has allowed Huneety to benefit from high-speed operations.

While public relations and social media are critical arenas for any company, a startup is usually short of manpower or money to have more than a part-time capability.

ChatGPT is in the process of changing that, from writing press releases and articles (did ChatGPT write this article?), to developing and running a social media presence on multiple platforms, generating everything from tweets to blog posts.

Use OpenAI’s other famous product, Dall-E, you will have the pictures you need too.

While it’s doing all that, the tool could also churn out quality marketing materials for the company’s offerings — and suggest improvements as it goes along.

In its current iteration, ChatGPT is considered good for doing research, for generating ideas, and for coming up with the first draft, but not the final copy.

These capabilities could already save days. The next version of the tool could well be as good as a good copywriter. ChatGPT-4, the latest version, has just been released.

CHATGPT AS A STARTUP’S CO-FOUNDER

Some startups have even been using ChatGPT as a “co-founder”.

Here, the AI tool plays the role of a consultant or an investor, as a sounding board for ideas, and indicates implications of choices.

Questions that can be posed include: “Should I enter a new market, like Vietnam? If so, what changes do I have to make? What team do I need to hire? This is what’s happening in Indonesia, are there opportunities for me? Whom should I partner with? What additional services and resources do I need?

“I have a chance to speak to XYZ fund next week. How should I modify my pitch deck based on their investment record and profile? And while you’re at it, have a look at my business plan. How can I improve it? How can I achieve profitability in three years and not five?”

The more time and the more specific the founders are with their virtual co-founder, the better the outcomes will be.

Startups, by including “generative AI” into their pitch, or already in the space, have started gaining investor attention, as some investors see something like ChatGPT as the next big thing.

Several American companies have seen success in receiving funding in recent months for being in the generative AI space, or for using ChatGPT.

These companies include Atropos Health, copy.ai, Kognitos, Jasper, Magic, Mattiq, Moonhub, Syntegra and TeachFX. Joining the pack are Israel’s GlossAI and India’s Entropik.

Not every business could be improved with an AI chat tool, but it appears likely the case for a short term. Any business which can make that claim will get additional investor attention.

We can expect startups in Southeast Asia to be not far behind.

CHATGPT’S LIMITATIONS

Should startups be in a rush to see who can use the tool better?

ChatGPT has been reported to spew out answers that were wrong, biased or sexist.

The tool itself warns: “While we have safeguards in place, the system may occasionally generate incorrect or misleading information and produce offensive or biased content. It is not intended to give advice.”

Some responses can be hilariously wrong, and the tool definitely needs human guidance.

ChatGPT itself also warns that it “may not be suitable for use in industries that require a high degree of human oversight or where human safety is a critical concern” and that “there may be legal or ethical considerations that prevent the use of ChatGPT in certain contexts”.

Of course, all this could change as the tool matures.

Finally, ChatGPT was launched with a data limitation — it was trained on use data prior to September 2021.

So for example, asking the AI to analyse what your competitors have been up to lately, would likely not be a good idea.

For startups, every decision their management team makes could mean success or failure of their company.

For now, banking on ChatGPT despite its limitations seems like a no-brainer, even though it’s not for every startup, at least not yet.

As the tool puts it: “Whether or not a startup should use ChatGPT depends on the specific needs of the business and the type of interactions it has with its customers.

"It's important to carefully evaluate the capabilities of any chatbot solution before implementing it to ensure that it meets the needs of your business and your customers.”

Both startups and their investors need to be aware that beyond the hype, tools like ChatGPT are works in progress.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Foo Maw Der is a Professor at Nanyang Business School (NBS), Nanyang Technological University, where he is also Director of the NTU Entrepreneurship Academy (NTUpreneur). Ronald Hee is a Research Fellow at both NBS and NTUpreneur. Chen Fang is the operations lead of the Technopreneurship and Innovation Program at NTUpreneur.