Is ChatGPT The New Health Coach of 2023?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a rapidly evolving field of technology that has the potential to transform the way people interact with the world. According to Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, AI’s impact will be even greater than that of fire or electricity on the evolution of humanity. It has the potential to address some of the most critical challenges in the world, such as climate change, cancer, and space exploration.

Certain forms of AI, such as ChatGPT, have become available to the public as tools for personal and professional, smaller-scale tasks. ChatGPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) is a chatbot technology platform created by OpenAI that can respond to a wide range of user requests, including answering questions, translating languages, and completing text inputs. It uses natural language processing (NLP) in an attempt to yield “conversational” and “human-like” dialogue.

With the recent and widespread accessibility of ChatGPT, the potential use of AI technology to automate tasks and replace human jobs is being examined in various fields, including education, writing, programming, and healthcare. Users on social media platforms, like TikTok, are demonstrating how ChatGPT can even be used to automate workout and diet plans, potentially eliminating the need for health coaches.

Is ChatGPT The New Health Coach of 2023?

Despite its powerful capabilities, AI cannot replace the expertise, creativity, adaptability, and ethical judgment that human professionals bring to their jobs. In particular, there are several limitations that prevent ChatGPT from fully replacing the role of health coaches, including:

1. ChatGPT’s Data May Not Be Updated Or Verified

There are inherent limitations in the accuracy of the information provided by ChatGPT. For example, the model’s current knowledge base is up to 2021, which means that many of its responses may be outdated. Additionally, OpenAI cautions that the bot might generate “plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers.” It is important for users to be cautious and thoroughly evaluate the information presented by ChatGPT.

Furthermore, OpenAI acknowledges that its product may struggle to provide accurate and reliable information because “the ideal answer depends on what the model knows, rather than what the human demonstrator knows.” This means that the model’s understanding and knowledge is more limited compared to that of a human expert.

2. ChatGPT Is Not Able To Provide Personalized Guidance

ChatGPT’s “retrieval-augmented” approach to language generation simply means that when it receives a question, it searches for related data sources and generates an appropriate response. While users who are not well-versed in health and well-being may be impressed by the bot’s output, they might not realize that it is based on general information. It cannot account for the individual nuances and complexities of an employee’s history and specific goals that a human expert can take into consideration when creating a personalized health plan.

Take it from ChatGPT itself:

The algorithm is designed to provide advice and information, but it does not consider the full range of factors that contribute to a situation. It does not ask follow-up questions or reflect on context, which are essential elements of effective health coaching.

3. ChatGPT Does Not Have The Ability To Be Empathetic

Koko, a non-profit organization that provides mental health support, conducted an experiment to evaluate the efficiency of using AI to enhance its support services. The results indicated that the messages generated by AI were rated higher than those written by humans and required half the time.

However, the feature was soon removed from the platform due to people’s poor reactions to its lack of empathy and authenticity. This made it clear that while AI can assist in certain aspects of mental health support, it cannot replace the human touch and connection that is essential for fostering optimal well-being.

How Will ChatGPT Impact The Future Of Work?

While some roles, such as health coaches, may be protected from the threat of automation, will others be so fortunate? As organizations explore the capabilities of ChatGPT and other language models, many employees continue to worry about the possibility of being replaced by advanced AI technologies.

One business owner decided to test this theory by secretly incorporating ChatGPT into his company’s hiring process. In a writing skills test, ChatGPT was given the same prompt as human candidates. The outcome? Only 20% of applicants were shortlisted for further consideration—and ChatGPT was one of them.

This experiment highlights concerns about the possibility of language models like ChatGPT replacing writing-related jobs and tasks. However, further evaluation revealed the limitations of the language model and emphasized the importance of human touch in many aspects of writing.

For example, when given highly specific guidance, such as emulating the style of American author and copywriter David Trott, the output produced by ChatGPT was much more impressive than when given generic prompts. The output from generic prompts was “competent but dull”. This highlights the limitations of ChatGPT, as it relies on pre-existing information created by human writers, resulting in impersonal and unoriginal outputs when given open-ended prompts.

The impact of ChatGPT and other AI tools on the future of work is not about replacing human employees, but rather about using AI as a tool to improve human work. Instead of teaching employees how to perform specific tasks, employers will teach them how to use AI tools to effectively perform those tasks. Because AI lacks free will, it does not eliminate the need for human guidance or the need to retrain and retain employees.

ChatGPT and other AI tools may not be able to replace human workers completely, but they can still create positive opportunities for job seekers if they are used as supplements in the workplace. Think of it like driving a car – while a car can get you to your destination faster than walking, a human is still needed to operate it. If employees are not required to be as highly specialized in their roles, it could lead to more hiring opportunities across a wider range of positions. By using AI tools to augment human capabilities, employers can increase efficiency and productivity while creating new job opportunities.

Takeaway

ChatGPT has a lot of potential as a tool to assist human workers, but it still has limitations that prevent it from fully replacing them. For example, it cannot match the level of expertise, personalization, and empathy provided by health and wellness professionals. Similarly, it cannot replace the creativity of writers as it can only recycle pre-existing information, not generate original ideas. Additionally, ChatGPT lacks the critical-thinking skills and ethical judgment required for many other types of roles.

Organizations that want to improve employee well-being in the workplace should consider investing in a holistic wellness program that includes personalized health coaching. This approach empowers employees to tackle their well-being challenges with the support of a dedicated health coach, resulting in a happy and more productive workforce. While ChatGPT and AI technology may play a bigger role in healthcare in the future, it is not likely to happen in the near term.