ChatGPT

Media Analysis
Report

November 2022 –
January 2023
 OVERVIEW
1 / VOLUME
Breakdown of the conversation's volume
increase over time and its main drivers

2 / SENTIMENT
Review of the online discussion’s sentiment
drivers

3 / INFLUENCE
Analysis of ChatGPT's potential consequences
and impact on different industries and sectors

4 / MEDIA TYPE BREAKDOWN

A breakdown of media types that made up the
conversation around ChatGPT

5 /  ENGAGEMENT
Selection of posts that generated the highest
amount of likes, comments and views

ChatGPT Media Analysis Report 2

 SUMMARY
OpenAI’s ChatGPT, a language model chatbot with the ability to
generate human-like answers, was opened to the public in
November 2022, and the internet was quickly abuzz with
excitement. In less than a week, it surpassed one million users, with
people employing it for things like coding and writing essays.
Netizens shared numerous examples of their conversations with
the bot and its ability to write various forms of text.

Volumes peaked on 22 January when Microsoft announced that it

would be making a multi-billion dollar investment in OpenAI, the
makers of ChatGPT. Previously the company had invested USD 3
billion in the AI developer.

Some of its limitations were quickly pointed out, such as little

understanding of context and background information, lack of
common sense and general knowledge, incorrect or misleading
information, and the fact that its knowledge is still restricted to
2021 data.

Criticism quickly emerged, such as concerns about ramifications

regarding education, journalism and marketing. Additionally,
ethical considerations such as bias, misuse and abuse of the
technology, impact on job displacement and loss of human
interaction, privacy, and security emerged as points of concern.

Experts warned that the chatbot's output should be fact-checked

for accuracy, and used responsibly and with caution. This led to
about 22K negative mentions or 12% of the total volume.

LEARN MORE & VISIT

ChatGPT Media Analysis Report 3

 VOLUME
OVER TIME

After ChatGPT become available on November 30, news quickly gained momentum as it spread across
social and traditional media. The topic generated over 200K mentions over a two-month period in the
UK and USA and involved over 90K unique authors. At first, users were quite enthusiastic about the new
chatbot and its potentiality and mostly shared their thoughts, concerns and experiences with the app.
The news of Microsoft’s investment was among the most shared and contributed to the peaks at the
end of January.

Rumours that Microsoft plans

to acquire 49% of OpenAI,

Numerous netizens and online media the maker of ChatGPT.

shared their thoughts on ChatGPT

and how it will affect certain
industries in the future. Many shared
their experiences with the app, while Microsoft confirmed a
New York City’s public
some pointed out that entrepreneur multibillion-dollar
schools banned access to
Elon Muck cofounded the startup investment in ChatGPT
ChatGPT over cheating
OpenAI, responsible for creating the maker OpenAI. Many pointed
concerns and fears of
chatbot. out that the investment
negative impact on learning.
came days after the company
cut 10,000 human jobs.

ChatGPT Media Analysis Report 4

 SENTIMENT
The neutral sentiment dominated the sentiment
split with 84% of the volume. It came from people
sharing stories about the chatbot and Microsoft’s
investment, without any subjective claims.

Negativity was driven largely by people worrying because the chatbot passed some of the most difficult
tests in the US education system and was the culprit of exam cheating scandals. A lot of people voiced
their concerns over its negative impact on many industries, especially education and IT. Some also
feared that it will eventually take over human jobs and even make Google obsolete. News that Russian
hackers used it to write malicious pieces of code also contributed to the negativity. Experts pointed out
that the AI could pose a cybersecurity risk.

Another big factor behind the negative sentiment was the news that ChatGPT’s creator, OpenAI, used
outsourced Kenyan labourers earning less than USD 2 per hour, which further provoked criticism. The
service was also condemned for giving biased and discriminatory answers, with some calling it
dangerous.

The positivity around ChatGPT revolved around netizens and media excitedly sharing news about the
launch of the service and their experimentation with it. Many called it “better than Google”, “the next big
thing”, and one of the most impressive technological innovations.

12%

4%

84%

ChatGPT Media Analysis Report 5

 MEDIA TYPE
BREAKDOWN Twitter was the main volume source with 62% of all
mentions. Users actively shared news about
ChatGPT: from its launch and the various ways it
was used to Microsoft’s major investments in the
developers of the app, OpenAI.

While some simply retweeted the content, many others talked about how their interactions with the
bot went. One of the key topics of discussion on Twitter was how the AI managed to beat several school,
university and licensing exams. Another popular theme was coding and how the tool could be used to
write code with user prompts. People also talked about ChatGPT’s limitations and how it was not
perfect. Tumblr and Blogs accounted for 2% and 1% of the volumes, respectively, with the content being
very similar to that on Twitter.

News came in second with 26% of the volume. The biggest volume driver was Microsoft, due to both the
company’s investment in OpenAI and the integration of ChatGPT in the Azure cloud platform. Other
outlets paid attention to the pressure that ChatGPT had put on other big companies such as Apple and
Google. News sources also focused on the fact that the bot had easily managed to pass several exams in
the USA. Journalists wrote articles about the AI’s potential impact on the school system and how
students had already started using it. Cybersecurity was also covered as news pieces noted that
ChatGPT gave a prime opportunity for cybercriminals to use and abuse it.

Forums were the third biggest source (9%), with users sharing and discussing news surrounding the AI
programme. The main conversations revolved around the IT industry and how people could be affected
by malware and phishing emails created using ChatGPT. Another major topic was how students use the
app to write their homework and term papers and thus trick teachers.

150,000

100,000

50,000

0
Twitter News Forums Tumblr Blogs Reviews

ChatGPT Media Analysis Report 6

IMPACT ON TOP SECTORS
IT INDUSTRY

One of the sectors in which ChatGPT was

found most useful is IT. The conversation
around IT and cybersecurity generated 50K
mentions. A lot of the volume was comprised
of people testing the app’s ability to write
code, with impressive results. Netizens were
blown away by its versatility and ability to
provide correctly written code in a matter of
seconds. Although it was described as
inconsistent at times and missing some
important parts, users still found it impressive.
Many commented that AI will only get better
at writing and debugging code and that
some other tools like Stack Overflow and
Google would become redundant. Some
even warned that it could replace developers
and software engineers but agreed it was in
the far future.

Stack Overflow, one of the Internet’s largest

coding resources, temporarily banned the AI
chatbot after users answered programming
questions with its responses. The forum’s
moderators said that the answers were
convincing but often incorrect.

Many people expressed their fears that the

technology could be used to write malicious
code and that some were already exploiting
ChatGPT to develop malware. News outlets
and users reported that ChatGPT had
vulnerabilities and that its defences could be
circumvented by more savvy people and
could be abused.

ChatGPT Media Analysis Report 7

IMPACT ON TOP SECTORS
EDUCATION

Education was the sector with the second

highest volume (over 44K mentions). The
main fears of many when it comes to
education and the use of ChatGPT revolved
around plagiarism and the AI potentially
worsening academic standards. There were
concerns that teachers would not be able to
tell when a student is cheating and that it
would rob students of their motivation to
write and think for themselves. Some
students even admitted to using ChatGPT
during final exams. For this reason, some
school districts and universities in the US,
Australia, Ireland and other countries banned
or restricted the use of ChatGPT. Users also
shared the worrying news that the AI chatbot
passed some of the most challenging
American professional exams, such as the US
medical licensing exam, Wharton MBA and
the bar exam.

The potential for cheating prompted OpenAI

to agree that it will assist teachersin
recognising work written by its AI. Separately
Princeton senior Edward Tian created an app
called GPTZero meant to combat bot misuse
by checking its level of involvement in
creating texts.

Some people viewed the chatbot as

beneficial and pointed out that the tool could
help students improve their creativity, writing
and learning skills. OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman
commented that as people have adapted to
calculators, they should also embrace GPT.
Some experts agreed with him and remarked
that schools should try using the software to
their advantage.

ChatGPT Media Analysis Report 8

IMPACT ON TOP SECTORS
MEDIA & JOURNALISM

Media & Journalism accounted for roughly

13K of the mentions, with many of the
mentions focusing on ChatGPT’s ability to
generate articles, reports, opinion pieces,
poems, scripts and whole stories. This proved
to be one of the greatest concerns when
discussing the technology. It produced
different forms of written content with a level
of complexity and detail that can be difficult
to distinguish from content written by a
human. Some noted that this was a threat to
journalists, writers, content creators and
marketers because its use could lead to
automating the production of certain types of
content and to a reduction in the need for
human workers and a decrease in the quality
of this type of content. Many also expressed
fears about the use of ChatGPT for the
creation of fake news stories and the ability to
spam human-like comments and social
media posts that support a certain harmful
agenda.

On the other side, many pointed out that bot-

written stories were full of errors and
inconsistencies and that one of the biggest
challenges will be ensuring the accuracy and
credibility of AI-generated content. Users
agreed that it had the potential to
revolutionise the marketing and journalism
industry and offers a variety of benefits, like
saving hours of work.

The use of ChatGPT also sparked a debate

when it came to music and arts. Users shared
examples of the chatbot’s ability to create
poetry, song lyrics and short stories, often in
the style of famous artists and writers. Many
questioned if those could be called art as
they were created by a machine.

ChatGPT Media Analysis Report 9

 MOST
ENGAGING
POSTS
The most engaging post came from energy expert Alex Epstein. His post on Twitter showed that ChatGPT
was updated by the developers to be against fossil fuels and nuclear energy. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI,
announced the launch of ChatGPT, while journalist Billy Perrigo shared his article about OpenAI
outsourcing some of the tweaking of the chatbot to Kenyan workers who earn less than USD 2 per hour.
Other popular posts consisted of tips and tricks on how to use the app and people sharing their
experiences with it.

AUTHOR: Alex Epstein

SOURCE: Twitter
ENGAGEMENT: 5.8K RT, 1.6K Quote
Tweets, 30.9K Likes
1
AUTHOR: Sam Altman
SOURCE: Twitter
2 ENGAGEMENT: 5.5K RT, 1.7K
Quote Tweets, 26.9K Likes

AUTHOR: Billy Perrigo

SOURCE: Twitter
ENGAGEMENT: 9.5K RT, 2.2K Quote
Tweets, 20.4K Likes
3
AUTHOR: Chris Cunningham
SOURCE: Twitter
4 ENGAGEMENT: 8.1K RT, 304 Quote
Tweets, 9.9K Likes

ChatGPT Media Analysis Report 10

 APPENDIX
Markets: USA & UK

Language: English

Period: November 2022 – January 2023

Platform: Brandwatch

Media Types: Twitter, Forums, News,

Reviews, Tumblr, Blogs

ChatGPT Media Analysis Report 11

МEDIA INTELLIGENCE
REPORTS

BESPOKE REPORTS THAT

DELIVER PROFOUND INSIGHTS

OUR MEDIA INTELLIGENCE REPORTS ARE

COMPREHENSIVE, CUSTOMIZABLE, AND
MOVE BEYOND SIMPLE MONITORING AND
DATA REPORTING.

Stay informed on what the media

are saying about your organisation
and the most important
happenings in your industry. We
monitor and analyse your media
presence, provide you with the gist
of media conversations, and help
you assess the effectiveness of your
communication strategies.

LEARN MORE & VISIT

ChatGPT Media Analysis Report 12