There have been a lot of job losses in the tech (IT) industry in recent months. Facebook had a 13 percent (11,000) job cut in November 2022. Google’s Alphabet had 12,000 job layoffs, Amazon 18000, Twitter 7500 (representing 50 percent of its workforce), and others. At the same time, there was a lot of buzz about the release of ChatGPT (by OpenAI) – an AI Chatbot that is capable of generating human-like responses to queries. ChatGPT can generate solutions to a wide variety of technical questions that ordinarily will need a professional to answer, leading many to suggest that it will replace many jobs particularly those in tech. This blog post will explore Chatgpt as it relates to your Job or career, Will it take away your job?
What ChatGPT Can Do?
It is difficult to list the scope of what ChatGPT can do at the current time, The following is a fair representation of some of the things it can do regarding tech or IT jobs.
- ChatGPT can write computer code snippets in any programming language, debug codes, or optimize them for better performance.
- It can write out configuration commands for networking devices, help in troubleshooting networking problems, write scripts and commands, etc.
- It can help solve cybersecurity-related tasks such as threat detection, risk assessment, and vulnerability analysis
- Machine learning tasks such as feature selection, model training, hyperparameter tuning, etc
- Data analysis
- It can solve mathematical and scientific problems.
ChatGPT is capable of performing many tech tasks that traditionally will require a full-time professional to do- Programmers, Coders, Network engineers, Cybersecurity experts, Data analysts/scientists, developers, Researchers, etc.
Will ChatGPT Replace Jobs?
The debate on whether ChatGPT is going to take away our jobs is a heated and controversial one. ChatGPT is amazing, but it is going to be difficult to assume that it will be a suitable replacement for Tech jobs in its current form. That is because writing codes or other similar tasks is only a fragment of what it takes to be a success in today’s tech world. A deeper understanding of code snippets and knowing when to use them is a crucial aspect of the job.
There is a lot of debate on whether ChatGPT is going to take away your jobs. There are already some challenges in other fields such as content writing or copywriting where AI Chatbots are proving to be very formidable. What will be the impact on the technology sector?
Here are some common considerations
The Technology is Not New
The ChatGPT is new, but the technology behind is not. What OpenAI did was make it very useful and accessible. There have been different iterations, which really didn’t make much of a difference, ChatGPT is just better at it. It is based on a predictive model rather than actual intelligence. Machine learning is just pattern recognition with no real intelligence behind it. The quality of results you get is based on the quality of data that was fed to train the bot. That in a way places some level of limitations on the output.
According to JP Vasseur, (Cisco Engineer, Machine Learning), ChatGPT is a tool, a very impacting tool at that. , in the same way, a doctor uses X-ray radiography to better diagnose an ailment.
ChatGPT Is Not Perfect
ChatGPT is far from being perfect. It has been demonstrably proven to give incorrect answers. Its response to queries can be misleading and you may need to modify the results to achieve an optimal result. You would always need someone with a satisfactory skill set to validate the answers.
Your job as an IT professional is to break down business problems into forms that can be interpreted in terms of technology. Knowing what questions to ask and what type of answer to accept from a ChatGPT is an integral aspect of your job. In that sense, chatGPT will be a great tool to aid your work.
Should You Worry about Chatgpt?
Worrying about ChatGPT is not going to be beneficial to you or your career. You should however find ways to beat the competition,- Not against ChatGPT but against your peers who may be using it to enhance the job. Maybe you will now need to use it as a tool to remain competitive. This will mean that you do your job in a more efficient way and at a much faster turnaround time for example.
Is ChatGPT Over-Hyped?
We are yet to fully see how much disruption ChatGPT will bring to businesses and our personal lives. It is already a part of Bing – Microsoft Search Engine. The results are impressive but not “earth-shattering”. How much disruption it brings will become visible as time progresses. AI generally is changing or improving how we do things. ChatGPT is just one of the more practical applications of AI. In any case, it is best to prepare for innovations in your career.
WhaT You Should Do
1. Leverage The Technology
I think the best approach to new technologies is to embrace them, rather than fight them. You can use ChatGPT as a tool to improve your productivity. Being a developer, for example, requires more than just knowing how to write or memorize a bunch of code, You must have a deeper insight and understanding of the code. And know when to use them. You could use ChatGPT to help generate code snippets faster, you then apply them in the most logical and professional way.
A network engineer need not memorize the whole bunch of configuration commands for devices, you could employ ChatGPT to help offload part of the work (most network engineers already use text files for this anyway). Your job will now have to go beyond being a “CLI junky” and actually require you to know why some configurations are the preferred options as opposed to the alternative. The same is applicable to other tech roles. ChatGPT can enhance your job and stay ahead of the competition.
2. Continuous Training and Development
You may have to take some additional training to give you a deeper depth of knowledge of your field. This will help you get the most out of whatever tools you will be using, including ChatGPT. The low “hanging fruits” may now be less rewarding as technology advances. The real question should not be if Chatgpt will replace jobs, rather it should be how will you be able to use it to your advantage.
Improve your skills and develop yourself further. Try to know a few more things about what is happening in a field related to yours. Technology is blurring the lines between many job roles, it helps to be familiar with related job roles to stay competitive.
Conclusions
There will always be improvements in technologies and innovations to make us do things in more efficient ways. ChatGPT is not different. So, Will Chatgpt replace jobs? The simple is that it is not going to, at least not at the moment, as it will still need human input to make the best out of it. You do need to find ways to use it as a tool and improve your skill set to remain relevant in this ever-competitive tech space. Don’t fight technology! Embrace it.
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