ChatGPT in the workplace is no longer a hypothetical but a current reality. HR professionals must manage generative AI in the workplace to ensure success and maximize this technology’s value. What AI management strategies can HR teams use to get started? 

1. Prioritize Human-AI Collaboration

One of the biggest challenges of implementing generative AI in the workplace is clearly defining the most effective way for employees to use it. There’s a common misconception that AI algorithms like ChatGPT or DALL-E can replace people in countless jobs, such as programming or writing. This is not the case since these algorithms rely heavily on human input, editing, training and fact-checking. 

The best way for employees to use AI models like ChatGPT in the workplace is through collaboration. HR professionals can manage AI by prioritizing human-AI collaboration to augment employees’ skills. Explaining that the goal is to work with AI can alleviate fears that robots will replace workers, which can hinder adoption if left unresolved. 

For example, copywriters can’t be replaced with ChatGPT, but it can be a good tool for eliminating writer’s block. Likewise, app developers can use ChatGPT to search for elusive bugs in their code. Even HR professionals can use generative AI in the workplace to aid in tasks like language translation or virtual employee chat programs. 

Regardless of how businesses implement generative AI, the goal should be to heighten human capabilities. Collaboration between humans and AI is the key to maximizing this technology’s potential. 

2. Focus on Eliminating Shallow Work

A common challenge with managing generative AI like ChatGPT in the workplace is identifying the ideal applications for this technology. It is tempting to use it for a plethora of tasks. However, generative AI is best suited for jobs that can maximize the value of adopting a certain algorithm. 

HR professionals can manage AI at their workplace by eliminating “shallow work,” or tasks that require little thought or engagement. These are things employees are likely spending a significant amount of time on, yet deliver minimal value for the organization. They’re often great opportunities for automation since they’re usually repetitive. 

For example, a copywriter might spend hours writing product descriptions based on fact sheets each day. Creating long-form blog posts for the company website or working on a new case study would be a much more productive and valuable use of that time. ChatGPT can create summaries of product descriptions, significantly reducing the time the writer spends on this task. 

Eliminating shallow work through generative AI in the workplace is a great way to balance the skills of humans and AI. Generative AI is not ideal for creating larger, more complex content like a case study. Unlike humans, AI isn’t capable of understanding emotions, value, creativity or originality. It’s good at automating small, time-consuming tasks that are simply part of the creative process. 

A large part of managing AI in the workplace is identifying shallow work it can eliminate so employees can put more effort into meaningful tasks. This is a win for people and AI alike since it leverages both capabilities. 

3. Work With the IT Department

The IT department plays a key role in successfully managing ChatGPT in the workplace and other types of AI. On the one hand, this is due to the practical need for technical support that comes with adopting any new technology. IT professionals can ensure that issues with learning about and using generative AI aren’t due to physical hardware or software limitations. 

The IT department can also build training programs allowing employees to maximize generative AI’s value. While ChatGPT and similar algorithms can seem simple at first, learning to craft and refine good prompts is a skill that needs to be learned and practiced. Generative AI models’ output quality depends on the skill and knowledge of the human entering prompts. 

The IT department can also help monitor the impact of generative AI in the workplace. AI can be extremely useful for improving productivity, communication and efficiency, powering growth and creativity. IT is expected to add $13 trillion to the global economy by 2030, and companies that embrace it will reap the benefits. HR professionals can collaborate with the IT department to create systems for tracking key metrics in these areas to monitor AI models’ impact and identify new opportunities. 

4. Monitor AI for Bias and Inaccuracy

Data bias and factual inaccuracies are crucial to address when managing generative AI in the workplace. These challenges directly impact employees and customers or end users. They can even create PR issues if errors or biases leak into the final content. HR professionals must prioritize monitoring ChatGPT and other generative AI models for signs of biased or incorrect content. 

Numerous studies have uncovered a phenomenon known as algorithmic bias or data bias found in AI models. Algorithmic bias occurs when an AI develops biases against people based on gender, race, ethnicity or other traits. The black-box nature of most AI models makes it difficult to pinpoint where exactly the AI learned discrimination, which may not even be noticeable until it is revealed in the AI’s output. 

Generative AI isn’t exempt from this issue. For instance, a text generator AI might use only male pronouns when describing what a president does, reflecting a bias against women in this role. 

ChatGPT and other generative AI models also have serious issues with accuracy in their output. Some organizations, such as the coding community StackOverflow, have even banned ChatGPT due to the frequency of its inaccurate content. The algorithm has been known to make up fictional “sources” for data or fake studies, “hallucinate” incorrect conclusions from given information and generate false information formatted like facts. 

Successfully managing generative AI in the workplace relies on monitoring and resolving any biases or inaccuracies in AI-generated content. AI is a helpful tool, but it is far from perfect and shouldn’t be trusted completely to perform on par with a human. 

5. Clarify AI’s Impact on Credit and Performance

In addition to concerns over being replaced by AI, many employees may be unsure how generative AI impacts how they are evaluated on the job. After all, if a human creates the prompt for an art generator AI, does that make them the artist? Likewise, if a human edits a blog post generated by ChatGPT, who should be listed as the author? 

It is still unclear how generative AI will impact copyright laws, so organizations must create their own set of guidelines. HR personnel should develop a policy determining what content employees should take credit for and what should be credited to AI, both publicly and internally. 

For example, clarify how AI will impact performance reviews. Will AI-generated content be factored into these reviews? If so, how will it be fairly evaluated in terms of the employee’s input? Answering these questions is vital to successfully managing generative AI in the workplace. 

ChatGPT in the Workplace Is the Future

As overwhelming as the rapid developments in AI are, it’s clear that this technology is the future of work. Almost any job can benefit from AI models like ChatGPT in some way. Maximizing the benefits of this technology relies on successfully managing generative AI in the workplace. HR professionals can accomplish this by putting humans first, monitoring bias and inaccuracies, identifying the right tasks for AI and collaborating to create clear guidelines for its use.