The Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform ChatGPT is everywhere these days – it's acting as a virtual assistant on websites, helping school kids cheat on essay assignments, and even writing novels and poetry. The natural language processing (NLP) model with seemingly endless possibilities has led many to wonder whether the AI is coming for their jobs. For facility managers, the answer is probably not. But how can such a powerful AI tool be used to aid and assist facilities management?
According to FM-House, a facilities management consultant, ChatGPT can be used to automate several thankless tasks facility managers have to complete on a day-to-day basis. For instance, says FM-House's article, the AI could be of “significant benefit” in generating contracts, budgets, work agreements, requests for proposals, and other “busy work” that can be the bane of facility managers’ existence.
One software company took it a step further: It actually asked ChatGPT to write a blog post on five ways AI could help facility management software. The result is pretty amazing.
They then asked some follow-up questions like “How can ChatGPT help organizations with their facilities management needs?” The AI responded: “ChatGPT can help organizations with their Facility Management needs by providing answers to frequently asked questions, automating customer service tasks, generating reports and alerts, and providing personalized advice and guidance. Additionally, it can help organizations better understand their facility’s performance, identify areas for improvement, and develop strategies for optimizing operations.”
So no, ChatGPT isn’t coming for FM jobs, but like any tool, if leveraged correctly, it can be used to make your job easier.
Greg Zimmerman is senior contributing editor for FacilitiesNet.com and Building Operating Management magazine.
