The relationship between RPA – Robotic Process Automation and ChatGPT has been widely discussed. In fact, the latest versions of RPA – Robotic Process Automation products have heavily incorporated the differentiating capabilities of both technologies. In this article, we explore some of the differentiating capabilities of this symbiosis.
RPA robots are software units created to follow a process, meaning a set of steps blindly, executing a process from point A to Z. Any alternative scenarios must be considered, otherwise, they may fall outside their scope of operation. Until recently, robots were considered “dumb” in the sense that they were not very adaptable to new obstacles that arise during execution. Although they are a technology with simpler coding and effective interface automation capabilities, they follow the logic of programming in general. The programming logic assumes that in order for a machine to exhibit certain behavior, there must be code that describes the steps to achieve that behavior. In the case of RPA robots, the behavior consists of executing a specific process.
Despite these limitations, RPA – Robotic Process Automation has been a facilitator in integrating with other platforms such as Chatbots, OCR, and Intelligent Document Platforms to expand its range of action. This goes beyond direct processes dictated by well-defined steps, but rather opens up possibilities for processes that require some cognitive abilities from the machine, such as vision, document interpretation, conversations, and generation of response sequences. These platforms are typically based on models or Machine Learning algorithms, a subfield of Artificial Intelligence, where the machine can make decisions based on extensive data patterns or fine-tuned algorithms capable of predicting trends.
ChatGPT belongs to the class of Large Language Models (LMM) within the field of Machine Learning. With massive amounts of data and numerous parameters, ChatGPT enables the machine to engage in conversations and interpretations that closely resemble those of a human. It is evident that this technology has changed the interaction paradigm with machines. It provides another tool available to humans and can enhance and expand their capabilities to perform tasks.
By combining ChatGPT and RPA, with the latter being a linguistic tool, RPA can be assisted in tasks such as interpreting communication, be it emails, chats, etc., to extract relevant information within the context, assessing data completeness, and being directed by robots towards the most likely coded scenarios. In the absence of information, ChatGPT can generate a natural response that reflects the intention to obtain the missing information. For successful scenarios, it can generate natural responses that enable a good communication experience with stakeholders.
One very positive aspect contributing to the democratization of RPAs is the fact that ChatGPT technology is based on APIs with relatively low transaction costs compared to the capacity enhancement provided by this technology. We believe this factor will be key in democratizing process automation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as it enables them to automate more complex processes with a manageable investment. In summary, we are living in exciting technological times with the emergence of ChatGPT, especially with its incorporation in the realm of RPA. These technologies will make companies operate more efficiently, overcoming human task deficiencies, errors, and resource and talent scarcity. This will free up employees to focus on higher-value tasks for the business and themselves.
