I'm thrilled that my article on ChatGPT concluded 2023 as the most-read piece on the subject (#2 overall) on the CFA Institute's Enterprising Investor blog. When first published, it quickly topped the charts and maintained its popularity throughout the year. Its core messages resonate even today. In a striking moment of foresight (or good fortune 😊), we "predicted" the 2023 word of the year. Writing in February 2023 about ChatGPT's impact on investment management, we emphasized the increasing value of "authenticity”. Nine months later, Merriam-Webster made “authentic” the Word of the Year 2023.
2023 was undoubtedly marked by the rise of ChatGPT and similar large language models (LLMs). Suddenly, much of the content produced daily seemed unnecessary, as people could just ask ChatGPT for the information. Still I wrote in the original article that there are three reasons to continue on:
Accessibility: Despite Microsoft integrating ChatGPT and GPT-4 into Bing Chat, making them widely available for free, the latest data indicates Bing's market share has barely shifted. This highlights ongoing inability to access the model or simply a lack of interest.
Context: Our edge may lie in providing nuanced context. A good example is knowing what questions to ask ChatGPT (I’ll write more about this next time).
Depth: While the length of prompts for ChatGPT is increasing, its capabilities remain limited for in-depth, complex inquiries.
Despite of all the technological advances over the year, the essence of our message remains: In a post-ChatGPT world, authenticity in research and content creation is crucial. The challenge is greater now, as audiences grow more discerning. (To address this, I've developed a simple prompt to gauge the value of content or research, which I'll discuss in an upcoming post, along with why, in general, prompt engineering is not the career for the next decade.)
Looking ahead to 2024, how will the world evolve and which word will best capture that? We believe AI will remain the world’s focus and hence the Word of the Year will need to reflect the key to AI development in the year ahead.
Despite widespread interest in GenAI, financial institutions and professionals, with the exception of a small number of pioneers, have yet to develop a clear strategy to effectively put GenAI to work for two important reasons:
GenAI is still nascent and rapidly evolving, which presents a dilemma. Its impressive capabilities are marred by challenges like rapid obsolescence as a result of its rapid development cycle and issues such as "hallucination", the generation of incorrect or nonsensical information by the AI model, due to its still-maturing nature.
The misconception that GenAI supersedes all preceding AI technologies is creating confusion at both corporate and individual levels, affecting technology roadmaps and AI skill development.
We are optimistic that financial institutions and finance professionals will find answers to these challenges in 2024. The key, we believe, is "adaptability." The word encapsulates the need for agility in strategy, technology adoption, and skill development. As the landscape of GenAI continues to evolve rapidly, being adaptable will not only help in harnessing its potential but also in navigating its complexities and integrating it effectively into existing systems and workflows. This adaptability must be reflected in both organizational mindsets and individual skill sets, ensuring a dynamic approach to AI's role in finance.