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ChatGPT is everywhere, but we’ve only scratched the surface of the potential of such generative artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. Just below the surface is a very exciting opportunity for its role in innovation and research and development (R&D). Determined to find the answer, our innovation team dug deeper.
If you haven’t yet started experimenting with and implementing generative language models developed by OpenAI into your business processes, you’ve at least heard of ChatGPT. Chatbots have garnered a great deal of attention both within and outside the AI ​​community due to their human-like conversational abilities, and the service reached his 100 million users in less than two months.
While the true threat and potential of generative AI will continue to be debated, there is no doubt that leveraging the advanced language processing capabilities of applications can help companies unlock the true value of innovation. New levels of consumer insight, more efficient processes, and faster ways of working are just below the surface. To test the tool, we used ChatGPT to simulate how new product development can be driven.
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1. The Idea Process: Quality Inputs Produce Quality Outputs
The answer you’re looking for depends on how you structure your question. Not as simple as it sounds! ChatGPT leverages massive amounts of data (over 570 GB of data — about 300 billion words) from across the internet to quickly answer your questions. Also, the specific phrasing, phrasing, and context of the question greatly influences the answer.
Let’s say you’re looking for the next big innovation in laundry for a consumer goods company. You already know that the global market for laundry care products is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 4.9% from 2021 to 2028, according to a report by Grand View Research (ChatGPT, in case you didn’t know). ). ). You can easily ask, “What will be the next disruptive laundry product?” ChatGPT then lists several potential directions for innovative laundry products, including sustainable laundry solutions, smart laundry devices, and multifunctional products. The responses are interesting and may help you affirm your initial thoughts, but there’s probably nothing you didn’t already know.
But what if we tried a more creative angle, like, “What do people love about laundry?” This question is not intuitive. But the insights from ChatGPT are potentially much more interesting, allowing us to gain a deeper understanding of consumer behavior and sentiment to anchor our next great innovation or product design.
Image credit: Francesco Fazio | openai.com/blog/chatgpt
Questions that lead to more questions lead to potential insights. This is the true power of tools like ChatGPT. But it all starts with a question. It’s important to think about exactly what you want to know and how you structure your question.
Related: What Does ChatGPT Really Mean for Your Business?
2. Discovery Process: Spend Less Time Investigating, More Time Thinking
Discovery underlies all innovation, from context (market research, trend analysis) to action (immersion in ethnography). This is essential, but incredibly time consuming.
ChatGPT can do in seconds what traditional investigations take hours or days. Quickly gather information on a wide range of topics and sort the data to see what’s important and what’s not. Consider his four potential ideas for new laundry products. Now suppose we want to assess their relative attractiveness. You can also ask ChatGPT to rank them based on their potential attractiveness to customers. You can also ask ChatGPT to think about the types of customers who would find these ideas most appealing.
Image credit: Francesco Fazio | openai.com/blog/chatgpt
ChatGPT transforms traditional research in the same way that the Internet made encyclopedias obsolete. In a matter of seconds, ChatGPT was able to rank new product ideas and provide an attractiveness perspective by customer segment. This allows you to bypass the initial, more time-consuming research, dive deeper into more specific areas of interest, and shift your focus to higher-level tasks.
Related: Will ChatGPT be another race to the bottom in marketing?
3. Go-to-market readiness: Accelerate the creative process
Businesses are already using generative AI to handle the most basic and transactional customer interactions. But ChatGPT can also lean into more creative processes. Want to brainstorm your marketing campaign copy? Or drafting a new company mission statement? Or creating a starter list of KPIs for your growing sales team? ChatGPT can help you get started quickly.
For example, say you have developed a new stain removal product and are ready to bring it to market. ChatGPT allows you to quickly brainstorm potential marketing campaign concepts and help draft ad copy. The creative team now has a starting point for further evaluation and refinement. Let’s say your team is collaborating on a campaign centered around environmental friendliness, ease of use, and dirt-removal power. You can even go one step further and ask ChatGPT to create compelling posts for social media. Here’s what you get:
Image credit: Francesco Fazio | openai.com/blog/chatgpt
Not bad, right? Seeking opportunities to implement generative AI for such tasks can help significantly accelerate and enhance your go-to-market strategy.
The Future of Generative AI and Innovation
The applications of generative AI are more than just possibilities. They are already changing the rules of the game for innovation. Developing new concepts, accelerating research and discovery, and go-to-market strategies are just a few of the opportunities for leveraging generative AI.
However, it does not replace human decision-making. We know that the vast amount of data used in generative AI tools is already available content. In fact, ChatGPT’s underlying data is only up-to-date until 2021, so it’s not only somewhat outdated, but it can’t even replace true primary research.
The power of generative AI remains incredibly powerful, as long as you know the data you’re using and its strengths and limitations. And how much benefit it can bring depends on knowing what questions to ask, where to dig deeper, and how to translate that knowledge into practical action. It’s hanging