CHATGPT In HR

The field of HR management is being driven along the path of artificial intelligence- AI.  The HR person must learn how to make the fullest use of it or else be pushed to the side by it.  The latest rave in the artificial intelligence arena is that of CHATGPT.  But CHATGPT is simply the popular face of AI. AI technology is a borderless field.  There are simple forms of artificial intelligence and highly complex forms.  Is CHATGPT the ultimate representation of artificial intelligence? I would think not.  The WAZE app that you are so familiar with is something out of the ordinary.  There is a lot of intelligence programmed into WAZE such that the app can even provide you with suggestions and alternatives.  Is CHATGPT something new?  It is not new either.  My first encounter with AI along the line of CHATGPT was a software called LISA way back in early 1990.  LISA could answer some simple questions I ask about “her”, ask some questions back, and scold me a bit here and there for saying rude things to her but a lot of the time it responded with “I cannot understand you” or “I am not capable of responding to that”.  Long after LISA, we are introduced to SIRI from Apple and we have OK Google, too which response to voiced queries and returns voice answers.  Those two can be great conversationalists and can even tell you the weather, jokes, and history, and brief you on current affairs and politics and offers advice on this and that which is much or in-depth than LISA could. And then we also have ALEXA too, which is the smart home assistant created by Amazon, which follows your instructions to do things on your home appliances for you while getting you information on many things in daily living.  But telling us jokes and weather conditions cannot do much for HR management work. CHATGPT responds to keyboard entry, not to voice.

What distinguishes CHATGPT from all the others above is that it has much more comprehensive capabilities than any of the above. CHATGPT and its genre of AI can perform with capabilities as if it can weigh pros and cons, understand emotions and rationale and understand complex instructions and requests.  So what have I been able to get CHATGPT to do for me so far?  I have toyed with CHATGPT only.  I have not gone into seriously testing out its present abilities.   From the little that I have done with it, it is my view that CHATGPT can make a tremendous contribution to HR management functions. It will lighten the burden of many important duties, cut short a  lot of thinking time, generate workable ideas, and might even cause some jobs in HR to become redundant.  Here are some examples of what I had made it do for me.

1.  GENERATE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS THAT I COULD ASK CANDIDATES, for example:

My request to CHATGPT:  “What question about Islam should I ask a candidate for HR Manager’s job if I want his potential for handling sensitive demands at work from the workforce?”.  Upon pressing the ENTER key, CHATGPT stood still for about 20 seconds and immediately churned out his answer to me.

[ It’s important to approach the topic of religion sensitively, and not to ask questions that could be seen as discriminatory or irrelevant to the job. However, if you want to assess a candidate’s potential for handling sensitive demands related to religion in the workplace, you could ask a question like:

“How would you approach a situation where an employee requests an accommodation for religious reasons and this accommodation conflicts with the company’s policies or procedures?”

This question will allow the candidate to demonstrate their knowledge of religious accommodation in the workplace, as well as their ability to handle potentially sensitive situations professionally and respectfully. It’s important to note that the question should be asked in a way that is neutral and not focused on any one particular religion, and that the candidate’s response should be evaluated based on their general knowledge and approach to religious accommodation, rather than their specific beliefs or practices. ]
 

That response up there should either scare you stiff, or it would make you marvel at how it had dissected the complex and specific request that I had typed and the quality of the answer it returned.

To keep this writeup short, I asked CHATGPT to:

2. WRITE A WARNING LETTER to staff with chronic non-attendance record

3.  WRITE OUT AN APPOINTMENT LETTER 

4.  PRODUCE A COMPLETE HR POLICY DOCUMENT  on the subject of attendance, tardiness, disciplinary action, and punishment. 

CHATGPT  was able to produce an almost perfectly structured policy document, with proper paragraphing and paragraph numbering and all.

5. IDENTIFY COMPANIES  in Lahad Datu, Sandakan, and Tawau that I could communicate with to introduce our training programs to them.  I did all the above things with CHATGPT from my workspace in Petaling Jaya.

As I said above, I have not done much yet with it.  The potential is tremendous.  Stay in touch or get pushed out. Your choice.