The availability of OpenAI’s ChatGPT on iOS presents new possibilities and challenges for enterprises.
Microsoft partner OpenAI revealed on May 18 that the ChatGPT app will be free to Apple’s iOS users and will sync across all users’ devices. This app uses AI vendor/laboratory’s open source speech recognition system Whisper and allows voice input. ChatGPT-Plus subscribers have access to GPT-4 features and also have access to iOS features and support.
“Improving accessibility is a good thing,” said Will McKeon White, an analyst at Forrester Research. “Now that you can download it to your phone, it theoretically allows for more integration with other applications.”
The app will also create new data feeds for generative AI systems such as email, McKeon White said.
However, while data feeds can help improve accuracy, they may not mitigate the “consistent nonsense” that systems like ChatGPT occasionally generate. Consistent nonsense is when the system sounds accurate to a query but produces wrong or misleading answers.
“There is a limit to training a model. You can’t be effective,” said McKeon White. He said.
Pros and cons for companies
Implementing ChatGPT as an app won’t make the system more efficient, but more API integration with GPT could improve the quality of the output, McKeon-White said.
For businesses, the new app will make it easier for users who are already using ChatGPT on desktop to access ChatGPT.
According to Gartner analyst Bern Elliot, “This will make it much easier to access when away from your desk or office, allowing for more uses and perhaps new use cases. Let’s do it,” he said.
Businesses may use this app when users need quick access to information on their smartphones. Employees can also use the app hands-free in the field, using preconfigured prompts, Elliot said.
In the early days of mass usage of ChatGPT and other generative AI chatbots, it’s still unclear what the direct applications are for businesses, especially in mobile formats.
This allows for easy access even when away from your desk or office, thus enabling additional usages and perhaps new use cases.
Burn ElliottGartner Analyst
“ChatGPT and [products using the large language models such interactive chatbots are based on] “It didn’t predict very well,” said Mr. Elliott. “There is also the ‘try and see what works’ approach. ”
But ChatGPT’s new broader accessibility on the Apple iPhone could pose a problem for companies banning generative AI systems, McKeon-White said. It can also raise security concerns for businesses.
An employee could inadvertently give the system access to company information while using the system to compose an email reply on a mobile phone, he said.
After all, the ChatGPT app was what we expected from OpenAI.
“There are other tools available to access ChatGPT on the iPhone, so this is part of what OpenAI is already built into,” said Elliot. “Not a surprising development, but still a good move.”
The iOS ChatGPT app is currently only available in the US.
Esther Ajao is a news writer covering artificial intelligence software and systems.
