“AI Talks” is a new series from the Huntsville Business Journal on Artificial Intelligence and its applicability to the world of business. Each month, HBJ plans on bringing you interesting topics led by our new contributing expert writer, Carl Holden.

This series will also introduce another new “writer” to our journal: Artificial Intelligence itself. Using Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT), we plan on bringing our readers an “article” written directly by AI.

While AI cannot currently write a news article with fully original sources, this series hopefully will introduce our readers to the nuances of Artificial Intelligence in the modern age of business. The first article in this series is written from our contributing expert writer, Carl Holden. One the next page, you can find an article using ChatGPT.

Oops, We Accidentally Hired ChatGPT

At our booth during the National Cyber Security Summit, I met a well-known government contractor who accidentally hired ChatGPT. The contractor was thrilled initially with their talented hire, who impressed the company with a perfect resume and astute answers in the online interview.

However, the facade crumbled when the individual asked, “Hey, why is ChatGPT blocked at work?” There had been suspicions that this person was unable to do recent assignments.

The manager responded, “We aren’t allowed to use ChatGPT in government.” Half the Huntsville population sitting at Redstone gates every morning should know that fact!

Carl Holden, Creative Director of Zellus Marketing

The young person soon confessed to using AI to make it match their resume precisely to the job posting. They also aced the remote interviewing questions with ChatGPT, confidently spewing all the terminology they needed.

Before this company told me of their “artificial applicant,” they expressly told me they DO NOT use AI when they first approached my booth. After I heard this hiring horror story, I made it clear to them that AI can USE you. Cybersecurity and risk management should include non-human threats and liabilities, even in the HR department. Because it did not expect or prepare for this, the company will likely incur the cost of firing an unqualified hire.

Many stopped by my booth, unaware that Microsoft, powering their computers and email, owns a significant share of ChatGPT. Moreover, only some recognized the video I was playing of Microsoft CoPilot, the AI that has already launched in the latest version of Windows. Microsoft has successfully monopolized the government’s operating systems. Isn’t it naive to think that they aren’t going to get the government to buy into their AI as well?

Over recent years, my company has been using AI to assist in content and data activities. The November 2022 release of ChatGPT marked the first time I felt an AI had formidable capabilities. Since then, a flood of new technologies has entered the market, and we have been consulting local businesses on navigating or implementing the technology effectively and ethically. It was a very popular topic with visitors at our Security Summit booth.

This hiring mishap isn’t merely a humorous tale but a profound lesson. A 24-year-old with a ChatGPT Pro account outsmarted a multi-million dollar contractor employing hundreds of people. As AI continues to weave itself into the fabric of the modern workplace, resisting its effects seems futile. Even these capable bastions of data security must adopt this technology one day or risk losing to a company full of 24-year-olds and a “government-approved” AI.