ChatGPT is the buzzword of 2023. AI-generated content is spreading across the online world and the casino industry is not immune. Every person in our niche has an opinion on how ChatGPT and other AI tools will change the industry. Meanwhile, everyone wants to know other people’s views on how ChatGPT will change the online casino industry. If a revolution is afoot, no one wants to be the last to respond.
The staff here at Gambling Riot decided to look at the state of the online casino industry as it applies to AI-generated content. Will ChatGPT be nothing more than a glorified chatbot? Will it replace jobs in the online casino industry? Is it a useful tool, a useless waste of time, or the next stage in online gambling evolution? We explore those issues below.
Table of Contents
What Does ChatGPT Do Well?
Let’s start with what ChatGPT does well. According to coders, ChatGPT writes and debugs code well. As non-coders, we take that point with a bit of faith. ChatGPT also summarizes complex topics and articles well, a fact that our writing staff confirms. If you’re reading an article and having trouble digesting the content, ask ChatGPT to summarize and use bullet points. You’ll find the article is easier to understand.
Eventually, ChatGPT might be able to write engaging blog posts or explain how bookmakers arrive at a point spread or moneyline bet. They might even make helpful predictions on the lines that sportsbooks post — though we doubt that’s coming anytime soon. At present, AI’s impact on the online gambling industry is on the margins. AI-generated content’s biggest impact so far has been the chatbots that are used for customer service.
What are Chatbots?
Chatbots are fully automated artificial intelligence (AI) software services that answer frequently asked questions that players have. They work to filter players’ questions and complaints in the live chat feature. This lowers the burden on human casino reps, thus lowering labor costs for the online casino operator. This, in turn, means the casino site can operate at a profit while offering a higher return-to-player (RTP) to customers.
1. Chatbots as a Live Chat Feature
For a while now, chatbots have dominated the live chat feature at online casinos. These work to handle incoming customers, gauging what the customer wants before directing them to a customer representative. In that way, chatbots are similar to automated responses when you phone a call center. They annoy some people but serve as a tool to direct the human support staff’s response.
In the near future, some online casino operators will go full AI — having chatbots replace customer support staff altogether. This may alienate some customers because the responses are only as smart as what’s programmed into them. If players get caught in a service loop, the AI could cost sites some of their loyal players.
Of course, players could start over, just like people start over on ChatGPT when they get the response, “Something went wrong, please try reloading the conversation.” It still might be an improvement over the automated Q&A conversations we have with call centers. And in time, chatbots might become advanced enough to do other jobs of casino workers.
2. Will Chatbots Replace Live Dealers?
For instance, would AI-generated chat work for live dealers? It’s possible that casino software providers could collect enough data to create chatbots that do the job of live blackjack, live baccarat, and live roulette dealers. These chatbots would provide feedback and a kind of social interaction. But would live players want to deal with live dealers?
Probably not. According to reports, many Chinese parents have opted out of online chatbot tutoring for their children. Simply put, chatbots don’t work as well as human beings. Some children find them creepy, which hurts their ability to teach. Other parents prefer the human touch, where they get real social interaction.
That’s the likely outcome of an attempt to replace live dealers and croupiers with chatbots. People flock to live dealer games because they have real people. The game occurs in real-time, while the chats are with friendly, helpful people. AI moderates live dealer casino chat threads, which include interactions between players. This reduces potential conflict but is the limit of what AI can do in live dealer gaming.
Replacing a human dealer seems will not enhance the game, though. A part of the appeal of live dealer games is the dealers are attractive, too. Chatbots cannot replace that, because AI would be a step back. Talking to a chatbot in this case would be nothing more than an enhanced version of traditional online table games.
3. AI-Influenced Education in China
Real-time AI dealers might sound outlandish, but it’s not as far away as readers might think. At a point, some online gambling software designers will make that leap. Gambling sites will use the technology for enhanced gaming of some sort.
It’s being used in other fields already. Chinese schools now use artificial intelligence in classrooms. This dovetails with the Chinese government’s cashless payment system and police monitoring system, which use AI’s facial recognition capabilities and social credit score. No joke — classrooms have robots that analyze students’ health and engagement levels. Students wear chips that track their location, while cameras check to see how many times students look at their phones or yawn during class.
Still, many Chinese parents have enrolled their children in chatbot teaching programs. These programs were designed with the input of tech giants, startups, and school officials. Class begins with putting on a “brain wave sensing gadget”. Students practice meditation, while 3 neural sensors pick up data and send it to the teacher’s computer. While students solve math problems, teachers can monitor who is paying attention and who isn’t. This information is aggregated, then sent to parents’ chat groups.
Whether it’s a good measure of concentration is debatable, but Chinese educators have used AI in more tangible ways. For years, Chinese startup companies hired North American teachers to tutor young Chinese students. In the competitive world of Chinese education, parents paid top dollar to have Americans teach their kids English, math, or geography. That continued until 2021 when the Chinese government passed a rule that limited students’ engagement with foreign teachers.
Prior to that, Chinese tutoring services had recorded every teaching session on their platforms. With certain teachers’ permission, they collected this information to feed to chatbots. Now, many Chinese students are tutored by foreign-influenced, Chinese-designed chatbots.
4. Will Chatbots Enhance Online Table Game Simulations?
Speaking of which, enhancing traditional online table games is where chatbots are more likely to help. Here, it is a real enhancement, because current games have almost no engagement. Players might prefer more chatty dealers in games of online blackjack, craps, or roulette with an entertaining AI dealer or croupier.
Because chatbots might make the game entertaining, there’s a real opportunity for AI to make an impact. Online casinos could tout their AI games like they once touted mobile casino apps and live casino studios.
5. ChatGPT’s Role in Online Casino Marketing and Casino Game Tutorials
A big question exists on the role that ChatGPT, Jarvis AI, and other AI-generated language tools might change how casino marketers and gaming experts approach content creation. Gambling writers like this author have strong opinions on the subject, though we are not likely to be the most objective source of appraisal.
With that qualifier, ChatGPT is still a long way from replacing human writers. It is good at creating blocks of knowledge about gaming companies. It summarizes game rules well. Black-and-white information is its forte. When it gets into game analysis, casino strategy, or the gray areas of the law, ChatGPT is hopeless. Have it write examples of a craps roll or blackjack hand and you’ll see it doesn’t know the first thing about the game. Anyone who uses ChatGPT-4 for those purposes will be disappointed — and their page will underperform.
Compared to premium writers, the writing style is also sub-standard. The AI is repetitive and uses passive voice way too often. It also tends to repeat itself many times throughout a page, so one sentence reiterates the previous sentence. This frustrates a reader and drives up the bounce rate. And while ChatGPT has problems, Jarvis AI tends to be worse. (It’s better in some areas, but that’s the subject of a whole other post.)
ChatGPT is helpful, but it still needs world-class editors to produce world-class content. It needs a person to humanize the article, and it needs a fact-checker who knows whatever industry the AI is covering. As with the other cases, it needs the human touch.
6. ChatGPT as a Sports Betting Tool
Several prominent publications have suggested that ChatGPT could be used to help sports bettors choose better wagers. Business Insider Africa suggested AI could help bettors “spot optimal lines of games based on stats say, the strength of a team and likely behavior.”
In our experience with AI, that is not the case. ChatGPT does not know about sports, sporting events, or sports betting. It can’t analyze a game like a handicapper does, and doesn’t have the inside knowledge that an oddsmaker has. It collates billions of pieces of data to create the illusion of knowledge, so do not expect it to make useful sports betting predictions anytime soon.
Conclusion
Artificial intelligence has many uses. Innovators in the online casino industry certainly will find ways to use AI to make a more immersive, entertaining set of games. That being said, we are still another stage or two away from chatbots, ChatGPT, or other AI tools revolutionizing the industry.
AI-generated artwork like Midjourney could change the online casino experience. Chatbots might moderate player interactions and assure a quicker, better response to player issues. Those are a far cry from an era where chatbots dominate online gambling.
