ChatGPT - Should i worry about my job

ChatGPT, a large language model developed by OpenAI, has been generating a lot of buzz in the software industry. Some people wonder about its capabilities and others are concerned that it may steal away their jobs. But what impact will ChatGPT have on the software industry? I'll try to analyse based on my experience.

From my personal experience using ChatGPT, I was impressed by its ability to process natural language. When I asked it to write some code, it did so perfectly, and when I asked it to explain the purpose of a piece of code, it was able to accurately identify its function and even point out syntax errors. However, the tool is not always perfect. For example, when I asked it to write a query in SQL Server, it used some keywords from MySQL, but when I pointed out the error, it was able to correct it and provide the updated version of the query. It is clear that ChatGPT already has a significant ability in code generation and learning from its past mistakes.

The purpose of automation is to reduce the number of employees needed, but not eliminate human intervention entirely. ChatGPT will likely do just that I believe. Some may argue that it is not generating new code, but simply displaying code written by humans. I just want to highlight that the solutions already exist on the internet for the issues we are facing during the development of an application and ChatGPT can easily use those. It can also create new solutions by combining different pieces of code, something that requires a lot of googling when done by humans.

On the positive side, developers can use ChatGPT to learn. When it is asked a question, it predicts follow-up questions and provides results. This makes learning much easier, as ChatGPT can understand the context of the conversation and doesn't require the same question to be repeated multiple times.

Some have predicted that ChatGPT will affect creative writers first, but I don't believe this to be the case. Articles written by ChatGPT lack the human touch and are too artificial to be considered as creative writing. Instead, I believe ChatGPT will have a greater impact on software developers, where human touch is not as necessary.

Is ChatGPT something to worry about? I asked the same question to chatgpt and here is the response.

Will you replace software programmers?

It is unlikely that GPT-like models will completely replace software programmers. While GPT-like models can generate code, they are not currently capable of understanding the full context and implications of that code. Additionally, GPT-like models are not currently able to debug or test code, which are important tasks that software programmers perform. However, GPT-like models may be used to assist software programmers in certain tasks, such as code generation or error-checking.

ChatGPT itself claims to be just an assistant to software programmers, but I disagree. True, I'm using it for my day to day job and it boosts my productivity but that's it? Definitely no, While it may not be 100% accurate now, it will learn quickly and improve with each new version. As a result, software developers may become more like software assemblers in the future, and this could have a negative impact on the economy by reducing job opportunities. But this is how people felt with the computers first but later their predictions went wrong for good. I wish this should be the case with chatgpt as well.

It is going to revive economy or going to spoil economy? We can only predict now but only the time has answeres.