ChatGPT: 5 Common Mistakes And How To Prevent Them
Tags: chatgpt, development, developer
Published: 2024-02-09 12:17:11

As IT professionals started using tools such as ChatGPT, we also started to realize several assumptions and misconceptions about its usage. Learn through this article about the most common pitfalls and how to avoid them – so you can make the best use of this tool!

While using such a powerful tool, we should be aware of some of its implications when not used properly. Sometimes we might be harming ourselves and others without any notice. 

I’ve picked several real-world examples to help you realize how easy and tentative it is to fall into such pitfalls. But don’t worry, we’re here to help you before that happens! 🚀  

Before delving into these actual examples which one might easily fall into, let’s dive into the common misconceptions about ChatGPT. But first, do you want to know how ChatGPT actually works? And how can you take advantage of this tool? Then, take a look at this [article](https://kwan.com/blog/how-chatgpt-may-help-you-more-than-you-think-a-guide-for-all-it-professionals/).



## Common Misconceptions & Fact Checks


As IT professionals started using tools such as ChatGPT, we started to realize several assumptions and misconceptions about its usage. 





To help you better understand the limitations of this tool, I would like to share with you some of the most common myths, as well as clarify what is true and what is not.

- **Understanding of Context** → Assuming that ChatGPT holds a deep understanding of the ongoing conversation context.

**Fact Check** → It lacks essential context retention, relying solely on the given input without tracking the conversation log.
- **Dubious source of Information** → Believing it can provide real-time updated information.

**Fact Check** → Responses are given based on trained data, which might not include the latest up-to-date data.
- **Intention Recognition** → Expecting it to precisely infer the user’s intent on whatever interactions.

**Fact Check** → It may misinterpret ambiguous queries or fail to understand nuanced queries without extra clarification from the user.
- **Conversation Memorization** → One might assume that ChatGPT possesses memory regarding past chats for response handling.

**Fact Check** → Such persisted memory doesn’t exist, leading to queries being processed independently without retaining information about previous requests.
- **Creative Thinking** → Believing it possesses true creative thinking.

**Fact Check** → Responses are generated based on patterns learned during training, and glimpses of genuine creativity or independent thought are merely coincidences.
- **Ethical and Moral Considerations** → Assuming it inherently adheres to ethical and moral principles.

**Fact Check** → Responses are generated based on patterns in the data, and external ethical guidelines to guide its behavior must be prioritized.

By acknowledging the model’s limitations and clarifying expectations, we can harness ChatGPT’s potential more effectively. Let’s now check some of the possible pitfalls that might happen if we fail to follow the best practices.

Wondering how to use ChatGPT to increase your productivity at work? In this [article](https://kwan.com/blog/9-chatgpt-practical-applications-for-developers-that-you-can-start-using-today/), we give you 9 suggestions! 


## Pitfalls On Failing To Follow The Best Practices & How To Avoid These

As we use ChatGPT to help us out during our work, it’s crucial to acknowledge the potential pitfalls that surface when best practices are neglected. By dissecting potential professional mistakes, we can better equip you, as well as other readers, with practical insights, fostering a culture of responsibility and ethical engagement in the professional use of ChatGPT. 




Based on the previously mentioned misconceptions, here are some of the most common pitfalls.



### 1. Risk of miscommunications
 
Questioning without proper context awareness may result in the tool generating responses that convey unintended meanings, leading to misinterpretation or miscommunication, which might escalate into other issues.

**Case A**: An engineer seeks assistance from ChatGPT to debug a complex code issue. 

**Consequences**: Such misunderstandings might lead to wrong and unnecessary interactions with other engineering teams, leading people to perform poor time management towards getting the issue fixed. 

**Case B**: A team seeks clarification on a project requirement throughout ChatGPT.

**Consequences**:  The response introduces confusion that might lead to misinterpretation of such information, leading to misaligned efforts, delayed deadlines, and challenges in achieving project goals. 

**Suggestion**: Provide clear and specific queries. We encourage you to formulate your queries precisely and contextually. Providing code snippets and mentioning project-specific details will, for sure, increase the chances of getting a quality response. Additionally, breaking down your problem into smaller ones allows the model to respond in stages, which might help the imaginary possible context awareness maintenance.



### 2. Reputational Damage 

Usage of responses without properly applying critical thinking may result in a public backlash, as those might be perceived as biased, offensive, or inaccurate.

**Case A**: A consultant employs ChatGPT to draft a client communication without applying critical thinking to its response.

**Consequences**: Such a response subtly implies criticism of the client’s reasoning. The client perceives this as offensive, leading to a public dispute that damages the consultancy and client relationships.

**Case B**: An engineer relies on ChatGPT for drafting its release notes for the shipped project. 

**Consequences**: The content misrepresents the feature, leading to backlash from the community.

**Suggestion**: Prioritize human review and editing of responses, especially for critical or client-facing communications. Define specific criteria for what’s considered biased, offensive, or inaccurate. Conduct some regular checks on ChatGPT’s responses, focusing on virus detection and sensitivity analysis.



### 3. Legal and Regulatory Consequences

Questioning without assessing the shared information may lead to regulatory challenges, including violations of privacy or data protection laws. 

**Case A**:  A team uses ChatGPT in a customer-facing application without implementing proper data protection measures.

**Consequences**: User data mishandling results in a privacy violation, possibly triggering legal consequences under data protection laws and damaging the company’s reputation.

**Case B**:  A company drafts a project proposal but doesn’t expose the AI assistance usage in the proposal’s documentation.

**Consequences**:  This lack of transparency raises legal concerns as clients discover the undisclosed usage, potentially resulting in contractual disputes and legal actions for non-disclosure.

**Suggestion**: Regularly set yourself up to date regarding data protection laws. You should establish clear and explicit policies for handling user data so you don’t get surprised. Maintain transparency in user communications regarding the tools used.



### 4. Security Vulnerabilities 

Accepting and using automated responses without assessing the potential side effects may expose systems to vulnerabilities, risking unauthorized access or misuse.

**Case A**: A software engineer decides to use ChatGPT for code review suggestions.

**Consequences**: If the response fails to detect security vulnerabilities or suggests insecure coding practices, one might inadvertently introduce exploitable weaknesses into the codebase.

**Case B**: An engineer decides to use ChatGPT for generating code snippets to integrate with a third-party API.

**Consequences**: The generated snippets may lack proper input validation, error handling, or secured protocols that might expose the system to potential API vulnerabilities.

**Suggestions**: Prioritize thorough input validation. Keep in mind that security measures might be out of scope for AI responses, so do your own investigation. Make sure to use up-to-date library versions and regularly check for updates and security patches.



### 5. Code Maintenance Challenges

Using codebase suggestions without fully understanding their behaviors and reasoning might lead to a lack of documentation and compromised collaboration among engineers. Additionally, future updates to the codebase will be more complex. 

**Case A**: An engineer uses ChatGPT for automated code refactoring.

**Consequences**: Due to the lack of contextual understanding, it may introduce inconsistent code changes, making it quite challenging for the team to maintain a cohesive and logically structured codebase.

**Case B**: An engineer uses ChatGPT to help him out by adding a new feature to his codebase.

**Consequences**: Without the proper context of the project’s design, the model may introduce unnecessary complexities, making the codebase harder to understand and maintain.

**Suggestions**: Use ChatGPT as a supplementary tool rather than a primary source for critical code-related tasks. Advocate for engineers to validate any possible automated suggestions from ChatGPT. Regularly monitor the codebase’s health.


## ChatGPT: 5 Common Mistakes and How to Prevent Them: Final Thoughts





Over time, it becomes evident that neglecting established best practices can be quite troublesome. From the risk of miscommunications to code maintenance challenges, these pitfalls push toward the imperative of adhering to these ethical best practices.


In this article, we’ve exposed some of the most common misconceptions, as well as some practical examples of where those might happen. We hope that with the given suggestions, you might successfully avoid some of the pitfalls mentioned.

See you in the next article!

Article written by Rafael Martins and originally published at https://kwan.com/blog/chatgpt-5-common-mistakes-and-how-to-prevent-them/ on January 26, 2024.