The Ethical Dilemma of Using ChatGPT in Professional Environments

The legal implications of using ChatGPT, among other AI tools, in the workplace remain a moot point. Some businesses agree that AI can accelerate their daily operations. Alternatively, companies like JPMorgan Chase & Co., Samsung, Amazon, and Apple prohibit their workforce from even using ChatGPT.

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Whether or not using AI can lead to termination varies case by case. To help you understand the guidelines, let’s discuss how employers generally see these use cases of ChatGPT.

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1. Publishing ChatGPT-Generated Articles

Considering the accessibility and sophistication of language models, you might consider publishing AI content. Offloading writing tasks to ChatGPT will boost your output. It only needs seconds to generate a coherent, error-free blog on any given topic.

Although convenient, we advise against submitting AI content. ChatGPT merely scrapes and rephrases information from datasets—its output likely contains plagiarized text. Your employer can fire you for plagiarism if you carelessly use them in your articles.

Explore responsible ways of writing with AI instead. ChatGPT streamlines non-writing tasks, like researching topics, editing drafts, and analyzing reader personas.

2. Automating Employee Performance Reviews Through ChatGPT

ChatGPT’s sophisticated natural language processing (NLP) system understands input and produces corresponding responses. Some employees rely on it for drafting performance reports. They make ChatGPT write customized reviews by submitting their subordinates’ key performance indicators (KPIs).

However, using ChatGPT this way is deceitful—it doesn’t have enough context to assess your employees accurately. You’ll definitely get fired for submitting erroneous ratings. Workers might even file lawsuits against you depending on the gravity of the situation.

3. Asking ChatGPT to Draft Legal Documents and Contracts

OpenAI states in its terms of use that ChatGPT records and reviews all user conversations. The company uses non-API content for data training. While ChatGPT doesn’t learn from chats in real-time , its trainers still screen and filter input. You should never divulge company information.

Considering these privacy guidelines, uploading legal paperwork onto ChatGPT violates the non-disclosure agreement between you and your employer. You’ll likely get fired and sued if you get caught.

Moreover, ChatGPT can only customize its output to an extent. Carelessly trusting the generic contracts it drafts might cause legal complications down the road. Run all your paperwork through the appropriate professionals.

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4. Using ChatGPT to Generate Reports and Insights

Only use ChatGPT for research when analyzing reports. AI can help test formulas and answer general knowledge questions, but you should never feed it company insights. Again, OpenAI records all conversations. Your employer might sue you and terminate your employment contract for breaching the NDA.

And make sure you double-check the figures that ChatGPT presents. Blindly trusting AI’s formulas will cause errors in your computations, which might get you into trouble. Employers could also fire you if you consistently submit erroneous data.

5. Making ChatGPT Reply to Messages

A study by McKinsey & Company shows that employees spend 28 percent of the workweek answering and reading messages. To save time, you might consider automating some responses. ChatGPT can compose customized output based on the messages and instructions you input.

Although you won’t get fired, you should still avoid sending ChatGPT-generated responses. They come across as rude and distant. You’ll elicit more favorable responses if you compose unique, personalized messages.

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6. Composing Emails on ChatGPT

Employees find it harder to write emails than chat messages because of their formal nature. To hasten the writing process, they compose difficult emails on ChatGPT .

Like automated AI replies, workers rarely get fired for sending ChatGPT-generated emails. It just makes them look unprofessional. Use AI to generate writing prompts and create outlines, but you should still compose messages yourself.

7. Doing Research and Analyses on ChatGPT

Many companies encourage using ChatGPT for research purposes. It’s a powerful chatbot that scours vast datasets comprising various subjects. Science Focus reports that OpenAI fed the platform 300 billion words, while ChatGPT Plus has access to real-time information online. It can help you explore any topic under the sun.

You won’t get fired if you research responsibly. As with any other online resource, it’s best to verify information multiple times before presenting it. Compare data from other sources. Solely relying on ChatGPT’s output puts you at risk of spreading misinformation, a potentially career-ending mistake.

8. Using Code Snippets Written by ChatGPT

ChatGPT’s ability to code in various languages caught the attention of programmers worldwide. It can write an entire site’s code in seconds. Many programmers reduce their workload by offloading much of the coding process to ChatGPT.

While convenient, it’s also justifiable grounds for termination. ChatGPT merely pulls lines of codes from existing datasets—the snippets it produces likely comprise copyright-protected structures. So by copy-pasting output, you’re indirectly stealing another site’s property.

Explore ethical ways of using ChatGPT in programming . Most employers are okay with their dev team researching algorithms, generating placeholders, and refracting snippets on AI tools, but you must write and edit codes manually.

9. Editing Articles and Papers With ChatGPT

ChatGPT can help you edit drafts. Its sophisticated language model detects awkward sentences, grammatical errors, and even incoherent statements. Take the below conversation as an example. We asked for constructive criticism based on our preferred style guide and tonality.

It’s not unethical for employees to edit with chatbots. But if you’re an editor who publishes articles edited by ChatGPT, you’ll likely get fired. Your employer pays you to correct drafts yourself. Just running them through AI-driven tools and platforms is unethical and violates your contract.

10. Analyzing Financial Charts on ChatGPT

One of OpenAI’s worst issues with ChatGPT is that it gets confused with word and number problems. You can only ask intermediate-level questions. Making ChatGPT analyze complex financial reports would likely produce errors and inaccuracies.

That said, using AI for data analysis won’t automatically lead to termination. Most employers only fire workers who carelessly rely on AI tools and submit figures without verifying them.

You can still offload some tasks to ChatGPT, like drawing charts or writing summaries. Just note that it lacks contextual understanding and takes input at face value—you must perform fact-checking yourself.

Use ChatGPT Ethically and Responsibly

The mere act of using ChatGPT doesn’t justify termination. Most employers fire workers who exploit chatbots and pass off AI-generated output as original work. Just be transparent about your workflow. Don’t use ChatGPT if you have to hide it from your coworkers and supervisors.

Also, note that AI has legal implications outside of the workplace. It’s a powerful piece of technology that presents several ethical dilemmas—not everyone approaches AI with good intentions.

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Whether or not using AI can lead to termination varies case by case. To help you understand the guidelines, let’s discuss how employers generally see these use cases of ChatGPT.

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