ChatGPT and the future of the workforce.
As someone working in the wild world of venture capital, I am always looking for technologies that have the potential to disrupt industries and change the world. OpenAI's GPT technology is one such technology that has the potential to revolutionize the way we work and live; however, one of the major concerns is how GPT technology could affect the workforce and the economy as a whole. In this post, I will discuss the potential impact of ChatGPT on the workforce and why education technology companies like Guild Education will be increasingly important for upskilling and reskilling workers.
First, let's understand what GPT is. GPT stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer, and it is a language model that uses artificial intelligence to generate human-like text. OpenAI has trained GPT models on large datasets of text, and these models can now generate text that is indistinguishable from human-written text. This technology has many applications, from writing news articles to composing emails to writing blog posts…(you should be wondering at this point whether I wrote this post or ChatGPT did.)
One of the most significant impacts of GPT technology is likely to be on the workforce. GPT has the potential to automate many tasks that are currently performed by humans. For example, GPT could be used to write news articles, product descriptions, and even legal documents. It also has the ability to understand and respond to natural language queries, making it a valuable tool for a wide range of applications, from customer service to personal assistant services. As the technology improves, it is likely that we will see ChatGPT used in many more areas of work.
According to a report by the McKinsey Global Institute, up to 800 million jobs could be lost to automation by 2030. While not all of these job losses will be due to GPT technology, it is clear that automation will have a significant impact on the workforce. In addition to job losses, there are also concerns about the quality of jobs that will be available in the future. As automation takes over many routine tasks, there may be a shift towards jobs that require more creativity and critical thinking.
While ChatGPT has the potential to automate many routine tasks, it is also likely to create new job opportunities that require a different set of skills. According to a report by the World Economic Forum, 50% of all employees will need reskilling by 2025. This is due to the rapid pace of technological change, which is creating new demands for workers with a different set of skills.
This is where education technology companies like Guild Education come in. Guild Education is a company that partners with employers to offer education benefits to their employees. This includes access to online courses and degree programs, as well as coaching and support services. As the demand for upskilling and reskilling grows, companies like Guild Education will be increasingly important in helping workers acquire the skills they need to succeed in the new economy. And their scalability will offer a valuable platform for mission-aligned nonprofits to attach themselves to.
The need for upskilling and reskilling is not limited to entry-level workers. Even highly skilled workers will need to keep up with technological change in order to remain competitive. According to a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), around one in three workers in OECD countries are at risk of their jobs being automated in the coming years. This means that even workers in high-skilled occupations will need to develop new skills in order to remain employable.
In conclusion, ChatGPT has the potential to transform the way we work, but it will also create new demands for workers with a different set of skills. Education technology companies like Guild Education will be increasingly important in helping workers acquire the skills they need to succeed in the new economy. The Innovation Economy will continue to be not only a smart place to invest, but also will play a role in contributing to a more equitable and prosperous future for all.
If you haven’t tested ChatGPT out quite yet, I highly recommend it…try writing a blog post, like I did, with this post….which yes, was, in fact, written almost entirely by ChatGPT ;)
And if you’re very observant, you may have noticed the hands in the picture on this post look… funky. The image was generated using DALL-E, an AI system that can create realistic images and art from a description in natural language (but maybe has a bit more learning to do…).