There are many Generative AI tools that are revolutionizing digital development. A recent World Bank report found that ChatGPT is by far the most popular. USAID staff also have access to ChatGPT, albeit a version with less functionality that what is publicly available.
I’ve been experimenting with ways we can use ChatGPT to accelerate social and economic advancement in our programs across low- and middle-income countries. Here’s my 100% human-produced, hand-crafted ways artificial intelligence can help us be better professionals.
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4 Ways You Can Use ChatGPT Today
Thank you OpenAI for unleashing ChatGPT 3.0 back in November 2022. I’ve used GenAI for years, but that release – only two years ago – has unleashed a seismic shift in digital development.
Now all anyone can talk about is Generative AI – even to the point it’s conflated with the much larger artificial intelligence solution ecosystem. Of course, I am using ChatGPT today in my work. Here are four examples to inspire you to join me.
Please start experimenting with whichever GenAI tool interests you. ChatGPT will not steal your job, but someone who knows how to use it probably will.
1. ChatGPT for Business Development
ChatGPT can help you predict solicitations, analyze RFPs, identify competitors, design proposals, and ensure compliance.
For example, you can use this prompt with ChatGPT to see what upcoming USAID solicitations are relevant to your organization by having it analyze the Business Forecast and Q&A spreadsheets:
“You lead business development for [org]. You are assigned USAID as your key client. Look at the Business Forecast file and the Questions and Answers file. What opportunities should [org] pursue in the 1st quarter 2025? Please describe your reasoning for each opportunity that [org] should pursue with at least 200 words describing the opportunity, why it matches [org’s] focus areas and countries, and what [org] should highlight in its proposal for that opportunity.”
Once an RFP is released, you can use ChatGPT to understand how you should respond. For specific details, you need to move into specialized GenAI tools like Grant Assistant, which can produce a nice RFP synopsis like this one. Grant Assistant will also develop a proposal outline and compliance matrix that will save you days in bidding preparations.
2. ChatGPT for Policy Dissemination
A major aspect of international development work is to educate government policy makers and private sector implementers on leading digital solution practices. ChatGPT is an indispensable tool for analyzing large documents and creating understandable summaries for non-technical staff. Don’t be constrained by text. Google Notebooks can produce great podcasts from dense reports too.
You can also create training programs to introduce digital development ideas to programmtic staff. For example, this ChatGPT prompt produced a great first draft for enhancing health systems strategies through digital health technology.
“You are the Digital Development Advisor for [organization]. You are tasked with enhancing [technology strategy] through digital technology. Design a detailed 1-hour professional development session for [subject area] staff at the [organization] that will help them integrate GenAI tools to improve [topic] program engagement of [relevant constituency].”
Please remember that ChatGPT is an overeager graduate assistant – at best. You must always check every output for clarity and accuracy. GenAI is just a tool. You are the human responsible for your work.
3. ChatGPT for Program Implementation
We are often working with countries that have a rich linguistic tradition well beyond colonial languages. Yet we don’t usually speak the language of our constituencies, much less their unique dialects. Here is where ChatGPT and other GenAI tools can help us communicate better.
ChatGPT can understand written text and respond in 37+ languages (today), including Hindi, Bengali, Urdu, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Filipino, Swahili, Zulu, Afrikaans, and Yoruba with varying degrees of accuracy. The smartphone application can listen to and respond in 16+ languages. Google Translate is even more impressive. It uses natural language processing to translate over 130 languages with 94% accuracy.
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In addition, tools like InkubaLM are revolutionizing locally-led development. It is a “small language model” designed to operate in low-resource environments and offers AI language tools tailored to five African languages: Swahili, Yoruba, isiXhosa, Hausa, and isiZulu. These languages alone represent over 364 million Africans.
When you combine these translation tools with communication platforms like WhatsApp, you can develop impressive sector-specific solutions. For example, here are 10 GenAI-powered digital health solutions in use right now to improve healthcare in developing countries.
4. ChatGPT for Employment Opportunities
I was looking for a new job most of 2024. It was a very lonely and often depressing process. GenAI solutions came to the rescue!
First, I love Wyza, a mental health GenAI application created by a development professional. It was there when I was down, and helped me think positively, instead of being paralyzed by depression. I admit this to you publicly, to reduce the stigma around mental health and offer a great anonymous option for those who need it.
Next, you can use ChatGPT to improve your Cover Letter and CV when job searching. Here is a prompt to get you started:
“Review this [Job Description link] with [Organization link]. Compare the [Job Title] to my attached CV [Upload Resume]. Adapt my CV to emphasize the skills and experiences that align with the [Job Title]. Also, create a 750 word cover letter that highlights my relevant skills for this role and shows my enthusiasm for the [Org]’s mission, based on my previous experiences listed in my CV.”
There are also specialized ChatGPT apps that help you prepare for job interviews. Job Search Assistant is my favorite. You can ask it to give you practice interview questions and it will rate your answers and give you tips on how to improve your responses.
Using ChatGPT is Not Cheating
When I asked people about using ChatGPT at work, there was a clear and incorrect assumption that using ChatGPT was somehow “cheating”. I believe this stems from a conflation between blindly copy-pasting ChatGPT results and using GenAI tools to improve your communication – like you’d use Google Search or autocorrect.
Blindly passing off anything as your work without editing and adapting it is cheating. The US and UK Copyright offices agrees – pure GenAI output (text, images, audio) is not copyrightable. You can only copyright content that is the product of human authorship.
Yet, there still is a stigma around using GenAI in the production process, even when its use is just one input into what is a truly hand-crafted, human-product output. There are at least six reasons not to admit to using GenAI at work. I identify with 1 & 2. Which are yours?
- You received a scary talk about how improper AI use might be punished. Maybe the talk was vague on what improper use was. Maybe you don’t even want to ask. You don’t want to be punished, so you hide your use.
- You are being treated as a hero for your sensitive emails or rapid coding ability. You suspect if you tell anyone it is AI, people will respect you less, so you hide your use.
- You know that companies see productivity gains as an opportunity for cost cutting. You suspect that you or your colleagues will be fired if the company realizes that AI does some of your job, so you hide your use.
- You suspect that if you reveal your AI use, even if you aren’t punished, you won’t be rewarded. You aren’t going to give away what you know for free, so you hide your use.
- You know that even if companies don’t cut costs and reward your use, any productivity gains will just become an expectation that more work will get done, so you hide your use.
- You are incentivized to show people your approaches, but you have no way of sharing how you use AI, so you hide your use.
I am here to tell you that it’s okay to use ChatGPT at work. I do. I even use GenAI in ICTworks posts – and you cannot even tell which ones. Seamless use is the real mark of a digital development innovation. Make your mark now.
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