The use of ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence (AI) language model from OpenAI, is currently causing „office drama“ with large debates over its appropriate use, productivity hacks, and the evaluation of human performance. While some workers embrace it to create professional-sounding emails and automate tasks, others push back on machine-created work. JPMorgan Chase and Verizon Communications have both blocked access to ChatGPT for their employees, while Amazon has encouraged its engineers to use its internal AI tool named „CodeWhisperer“. Most concerns relate to privacy and trade secrets, and companies are grappling with how to monitor and regulate the use of AI in the workplace. In a recent blogpost, Bill Gates has said that „Artificial Intelligence is as revolutionary as mobile phones and the internet“. The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales points to both opportunities and risks for the profession in a recent article and points to be cautious and critical when using it. Using Ai should generally be appropriately structured and targeted to get usable output.
Likewise, it is affecting the academic world and education as a whole. Students may see an opportunity to use ChatGPT for course work, to generate ideas for assignments or improve their writing skills. However, there are potential drawbacks to relying too heavily on AI-generated content. Students may struggle with their critical thinking and problem-solving skills and, of course, there is the risk of plagiarism. Overreliance on AI-generated content may also hinder students to develop their unique and own writing style. The overall impact of ChatGPT and the development of artificial intelligence also becomes apparent when looking at the amount of recent studies and working papers across all disciplines that is covering a broad range of topics. In the medical sphere, studies are, for example, looking at the future of medical writing with support of ChatGPT or the role of ChatGPT in public health.
Likewise, the accounting discipline is dedicated to this interesting movement. In an international study with more than 300 coauthors around the world, the role of ChatGPT for accounting education is currently being examined. Stay tuned for futher updates on this innovative research projects to be available soon!