When judging a contest of IBM Watson vs. ChatGPT, it is important to realize that not all chatbots are built the same.
ChatGPT is serviceable at offering content for a broad range of topics and forms.
But IBM Watson is great for narrower use cases, which well describes what many business owners need out of a chatbot, specifically in a customer-service context.
This would be our recommendation for business owners looking into either platform: if you want a professional A.I. that you can trust to independently converse with customers and/or clients, consider IBM Watson.
ChatGPT on the other hand is good for more personalized individual projects, such as needing an on-demand memo for your business meeting.
This does not have to be an either/or situation, necessarily, as employees could use the free version of ChatGPT to do that kind of personalized work even after a Watson integration. Nobody is forcing you to pledge brand loyalty here.
The Decade of the Chatbot
We are not quite halfway through the 2020’s, but in the world of A.I. it may be appropriate to call this the Decade of the Chatbot.
More than any other A.I. innovation, it is generative A.I. that has taken the tech world by storm.
ChatGPT has become the most famous name in the game, largely because of its big-splash debut as a free-to-use ask-me-anything system. That splash is still rippling, although many in-the-know A.I. experts, analysts, and just enthusiasts (including business owners eager to integrate A.I. in its operations).
Is It a Popularity Contest?
But is it really the case that just because ChatGPT is popular, it is therefore the best? Or, at least the best at all aspects of gen-A.I. work?
Of course, it only takes a freshman-philosophy level of reasoning to realize that the answer to those questions is no. Though let’s not pretend that such fallacious reasoning that high popularity indicates high quality still affects the perceptions of many people as to what A.I. systems are the best.
IBM Watson and ChatGPT are indeed two of the most famous chatbots in recent history. But what many people seem to miss is that IBM Watson is older than ChatGPT.
In some areas of tech, older may imply antiquated and obsolete. But in A.I., an older system can actually be a positive. In this case, it can indicate more time spent for the A.I. to perfect its craft, as well as more time collecting data that it can learn from.
Many analysts agree that more time spent learning from and analyzing data, not to mention just performing tasks, can indicate a better-quality chatbot.
So it could very well be the case that IBM Watson’s years of experience within a variety of industries, from finance to healthcare, gives it the edge over ChatGPT, which is still relatively new, launching a public product-test version just a few Novembers ago.
Two Different Origin Stories
IBM’s Watson was created “in-house” by IBM engineers. To speak more about Watson being an IBM product through and through, consider that the name Watson is an homage to Thomas J. Watson, the founder of IBM.
ChatGPT, on the other hand, was built by a start-up, OpenAI, with some famous investors behind it, such as Elon Musk. And it had the vague semi-utopian purpose of creating “safe” A.I., rather than commercially oriented A.I.
Microsoft invested billions into OpenAI, which now has additional investments from Apple. in the conversational computing platform. Many analysts believe that this is why OpenAI has become increasingly commercially focused since ChatGPT’s debut.
This investment speaks to ChatGPT’s future potential as a viable conversational computing platform for business owners.
However, it is still worth noting that IBM Watson was from the ground up made for business owners, whereas OpenAI has had to more or less change course from the original research project’s purposes to commodify ChatGPT.
IBM Watson Has Narrow Focus
What makes IBM Watson’s years of employment across multiple industries a valuable asset is that it is very adept at performing specific roles within those industries.
Any AI researcher knows that any machine learning platform is in a state of continual growth. As the AI platform performs work, it will improve over time until it reaches near-perfect performance.
We implied earlier that ChatGPT is more or less a child compared to IBM Watson, and part of this is that ChatGPT has not been employed for an extended period of time in e.g. 70% of global banking institutions, the way IBM Watson has.
ChatGPT, on the other hand, is still in its transition from an all-purpose “safe” gen A.I. that can do just about anything to a more commercially viable A.I system.
ChatGPT may have some use for public entertainment and purposes at the moment, such as testing whether it can write a good cover letter.
However, if you are looking to invest in a conversational computing platform for your business, test out ChatGPT. Pretend you are a customer who is asking general questions about your industry. Notice if there are any errors, both grammatical and informational.
No matter what your business is, IBM Watson is more likely to have specific training and experience to perform at a high level in your industry.
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