For decades, experts have puzzled over the “productivity paradox,” the fact that, despite all the revolutionary computer technology available, businesses have yet to fully realize its productivity-boosting potential. With the arrival of ChatGPT, a unique artificial intelligence (AI) tool that can help automate mundane computer-related tasks, especially when writing code, that could soon change. ChatGPT has the potential to free up workers to be more creative in their work, allowing them to perform more meaningful tasks and drastically increasing productivity in the process.
A good example of ChatGPT’s potential would be the mundane spreadsheet-related tasks an employee working in a medical supply company often encounters. Those data-tracking activities can now be done easily with the help of ChatGPT, which allows the clerk to dedicate more time to solving more difficult and satisfying problems, like finding out why and where a particular batch of medicine went missing.
The implications of using ChatGPT are far-reaching. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology conducted a study where a group of 444 college-educated professionals were given a mid-level professional writing task, such as drafting news releases or emails. Those given access to ChatGPT spent less time on the task and reported enjoying it more, and also benefited those with weaker writing skills.
We can look to Henry Ford’s Model T assembly line for a good lesson in the power of smart organisation. Ford’s breakthrough was not just technological, but organisational – breaking down complex work into repetitive, specific tasks. We can apply a similar logic and organisational structure to the computer projects of today. By automating mundane and repetitive tasks, we can free up office workers to do more creative and meaningful work.
ChatGPT presents a huge opportunity for companies. Those that embrace automation, allowing employees to automate the tedious parts of their work and freeing them to focus on more difficult, rewarding tasks, will be more profitable in the long run. It can be daunting to shift to these new possibilities, but a more productive and human workplace awaits those that are successful.
Louis Hyman is an economist and historian at the ILR School at Cornell University, and the author of ‘Temp: How American Work, American Business, and the American Dream Became Temporary’. He is an expert in the history of work and economy, and is a passionate advocate of using technology to empower both employers and employees. Hyman advocates for automation in the workplace, believing it can lead to greater productivity, improved job satisfaction, and better pay in the long run. His work provides a powerful argument for technology-assisted workspace organisation and automation.
