Opinion Paper: “So what if ChatGPT wrote it?” Multidisciplinary perspectives on opportunities, challenges and implications of generative conversational AI for research, practice and policy

Abstract

Transformative artificially intelligent tools, such as ChatGPT, designed to generate sophisticated text indistinguishable from that produced by a human, are applicable across a wide range of contexts. The technology presents opportunities as well as, often ethical and legal, challenges, and has the potential for both positive and negative impacts for organisations, society, and individuals. Offering multi-disciplinary insight into some of these, this article brings together 43 contributions from experts in fields such as computer science, marketing, information systems, education, policy, hospitality and tourism, management, publishing, and nursing. The contributors acknowledge ChatGPT's capabilities to enhance productivity and suggest that it is likely to offer significant gains in the banking, hospitality and tourism, and information technology industries, and enhance business activities, such as management and marketing. Nevertheless, they also consider its limitations, disruptions to practices, threats to privacy and security, and consequences of biases, misuse, and misinformation. However, opinion is split on whether ChatGPT's use should be restricted or legislated. Drawing on these contributions, the article identifies questions requiring further research across three thematic areas: knowledge, transparency, and ethics; digital transformation of organisations and societies; and teaching, learning, and scholarly research. The avenues for further research include: identifying skills, resources, and capabilities needed to handle generative AI; examining biases of generative AI attributable to training datasets and processes; exploring business and societal contexts best suited for generative AI implementation; determining optimal combinations of human and generative AI for various tasks; identifying ways to assess accuracy of text produced by generative AI; and uncovering the ethical and legal issues in using generative AI across different contexts. 2023 The Authors

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Affiliated Institutions

• King Abdulaziz University SA
• University of Manchester GB
• University of Bedfordshire GB
• National Tsing Hua University TW
• Newcastle University GB
• Fore School of Management IN
• Swansea University GB
• King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals SA
• University of Otago NZ
• Universidad de Zaragoza ES
• NIIT (India) IN
• Bournemouth University GB
• University of Arkansas at Fayetteville US
• University of Central Florida US
• University of Reading GB
• National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli IN
• SKEMA Business School FR
• Delft University of Technology NL
• UNSW Sydney AU
• Humans and management in society
• University of Bologna IT
• College of Charleston US
• École Supérieure de Commerce de Toulouse FR
• University of South Florida US
• Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg DE
• Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad IN
• University of Agder
• Symbiosis International University IN
• Microsoft (United States) US
• Indian Institute of Technology Delhi IN
• University of North Carolina at Greensboro US
• University of Greenwich GB
• Indian Institute of Management Bangalore IN
• Prin. L. N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research IN
• Northumbria University GB
• City University of Hong Kong HK
• Sultan Qaboos University OM
• Laboratoire d'Economie et de Management de Nantes Atlantique
• Wright State University US
• University of Johannesburg ZA
• Liverpool John Moores University GB
• Aston University GB
• Free University of Bozen-Bolzano IT
• University of Colorado Boulder US
• Oklahoma State University US
• University of Bristol GB
• University of Louisville US
• Middle Georgia State College US
• AGH University of Krakow PL
• Montpellier Business School FR
• Roskilde University DK
• Worcester Polytechnic Institute US
• University of Sheffield GB
• Georgia State University US
• University of Strathclyde GB

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