Does ChatGPT bring opportunities or threats for entrepreneurs?

How should entrepreneurs deal with the fast pace at which new AI technologies emerge?

“What we've seen in recent weeks and months is that many of those so-called generative AI tools have been launched. I believe it's crucial for every entrepreneur to start experimenting with these new free technologies and tools themselves. You can't talk about it or understand the impact these tools could have on your company if you haven't experimented with them yourself for a couple of hours. And secondly, you should not do this alone. Urge every employee to do the same within their team. You could for example facilitate this by organising a ‘get to know generative AI’ session for all relevant employees. Only by trying them out you can really experience and understand what such tools can do for your company. And you’re also guaranteed that everyone in your company is up to speed with these new evolutions.”

Does ChatGPT bring opportunities or threats for entrepreneurs?

Yannick Dillen, Professor of Entrepreneurship at Vlerick Business School, shares his thoughts.

Will AI make the life of companies easier or is it rather a threat?

“The first step in answering this question is to make sure that the entire organisation understands what you’re talking about and dealing with. If you remain clueless, these new generative AI technologies can for sure be a threat. But if you start using them in the right way, they will definitely make the lives of business owners easier as they can boost your productivity. I can imagine a tool such as ChatGPT can improve the productivity of almost every department in your company, with customer service, marketing and sales, and IT as obvious ones. Many of those functional domains can really benefit from what AI technologies can offer. It’s a matter of turning a potential threat into new opportunities, and I believe that’s exactly what these technologies can offer to entrepreneurs.”

Will these technologies make certain functions redundant in your company?

“In the short term, I don’t believe they will, as tools such as ChatGPT still have many flaws. You should never just copy-paste answers that are generated by AI tools as they are not always accurate and reliable. I believe the magic formula to use them is to have humans add their own layer of creativity. Use them in the first place to do your own work in a better way. Never just replicate the output but try to augment it by adding your own layer of intelligence and specific knowledge. Only then can your entire company truly benefit from using them, and can they increase productivity, creativity, and professionalism.”

Do you have any practical examples of how generative AI technology can create added value for entrepreneurs?

“As entrepreneurs and their companies start experimenting with these tools, I see several examples popping up. In the tech scale-up scene for example I see IT departments using generative AI to augment their code. In SMEs, customer service departments experiment to increase the quality of the answers they provide to their clients. So yes, it is happening now, it’s not going to disappear, and it will only increase in the future.”