OpenAI’s generative artificial intelligence tool, ChatGPT, has taken the world by storm since its release in November 2022. It’s useful for everything from generating emails to writing code. However, it has garnered mixed feelings — some people use it to boost productivity, while others worry it will take their jobs. Here’s how it could affect careers in government and the public sector.

Possible Downsides of ChatGPT

ChatGPT has the potential to revolutionize the government workplace, but it isn’t perfect.

First, because ChatGPT only uses sources from 2021 and earlier, it can’t stay up to date on current events. That can lead to knowledge gaps and misinformation. Therefore, it’s not great at answering questions about upcoming dates, so government officials will still need to do that.

The second issue is that when ChatGPT can’t find an answer to something on the web, it does what it does best — make things up. After all, OpenAI designed it as a generative text tool, not a search engine.

Ask it to cite its sources and it will often fabricate news sites or people’s names. This bug is called a hallucination. If public officials don’t fact-check their AI-generated content, they could accidentally spread very credible-sounding misinformation.

ChatGPT also has issues with bias. If you’re wondering how an impartial, unfeeling machine could possibly have racist or sexist opinions, it’s not that the software itself came up with these ideas. Rather, the people who fed it information used biased sources in their training database, causing ChatGPT to occasionally spew offensive content. It’s critical to carefully read through all AI-generated writing before publishing it or sending it in an email.

There’s also the potential for ChatGPT to replace human workers. Automating administrative tasks can lead to job losses, especially when it comes to low-skill positions. However, ChatGPT can’t do every job. Certain public sector positions require people to detect things AI can’t pick up on, like whether someone applying for a driver’s license appears mentally unwell. There will always be a need for human presence in government.

Potential Benefits of ChatGPT

ChatGPT can make many people’s jobs easier. First, it shines when it comes to doing repetitive tasks. Government jobs often involve tedium like filling out paperwork, answering emails and creating budgets, and ChatGPT can vastly improve efficiency and employee morale by automating these tasks.

For example, ChatGPT can write and edit grant proposals that include details about fundraising needs, the size of the workplace and other crucial information. It can write speeches for public officials. ChatGPT can even categorize tax forms and route them to the necessary departments.

Thanks to its ability to quickly compile information from various sources, it can also serve as a jumping-off point for research on an actual search engine. Although ChatGPT provides misinformation from time to time, it can help government employees find information about certain policies, regulations, procedures and statistics that they can then look up on Google.