Using powered LLMs like GPT-3.5 and GPT-4, the app ChatGPT is increasingly employed by the workforce. This AI chatbot offers many advantages to employees, such as code snippets, articles, documentation, social posts, content summaries, image generation, and more.
Recently, ChatGPT has been a cause of concern for business leaders due to security and ethical issues that it raises. This has presented many dilemmas when considering ChatGPT’s use in their operations.
Several corporations have prohibited or regulated the use of Generative AI, such as ChatGPT, due to the potential security risks and incidents surrounding it — for example, leaking sensitive details or generating false data. These organizations have imposed strict policies to mitigate any issues.
ChatGPT and its associated security considerations are increasingly relevant as the use of language models (LLMs) in applications expands. Below we will look into this issue in depth, exploring the potential security and privacy risks posed by LLM-based apps.
Organizations are faced with a distinguishing decision: to exercise a ban on AI- or ML-based tools or deploy them all in. We’ll explore why some organizations have chosen the latter and why pairing this “intelligence” with the security oversight it deserves is wise.
Understanding Emerging Security Concerns Of ChatGPT Technology
According to a study conducted by Cyberhaven, 6.5% of employees revealed that they have shared confidential data via ChatGPT – an increasing cause of concern.
Eleven percent of what staff pastes into ChatGPT is considered sensitive information, such as confidential details, intellectual property, customer information, source code, financials, or regulated data. Depending on the scenario at hand, this could put you in violation of geographic or industry-regarding data privacy regulations.
Three engineers from Samsung recently used an AI bot to tackle three distinct tasks: finding errors in semiconductor code, optimizing equipment code, and summarizing meeting notes. The data shared with the bot was highly sensitive corporate information.
Using an LLM-based tool to divulge trade secrets is a high risk, as it might take user inputs and incorporate them into future responses after retraining the algorithm.
JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and Citi have all followed in the footsteps of one another by restricting their employees’ usage of ChatGPT, a generative AI technology, due to concerns about its potential negative effects on the financial sector.
In Italy, the severe privacy breach that allowed access to users’ chat histories from ChatGPT resulted in an instant ban of the tool. In contrast, investigations regarding possible data privacy violations were being done. Furthermore, its capability to recall usernames and information is a great concern for users’ privacy.
ChatGPT is a system that has been provided access to the public web, thus making its outputs possibly include intellectual property belonging to third parties. This is because it has been made simple to detect the source used for its creation.
A Cornell University paper explains that a training data extraction attack is a query to the language model for retrieving individual training examples. Besides, the capability of recalling usernames and details brings up other privacy issues which cannot be ignored.
For those interested in understanding the potential impact of ChatGPT on the future of work, customer experience, data strategy, and cybersecurity registering for Generative AI Digital Summit on May 25th is a must. Registration is free; this summit offers insights from practitioners as well as platforms to further knowledge in these fields.
Essential Tips for Securing ChatGPT Usage And Optimizing Performance
Amazon, Microsoft, and Walmart employees have been admonished by their respective companies to refrain from using applications that rely on the Low Latency Model (LLM). Warnings have been issued due to the potential risks involved.
Small-to-medium enterprises must also play a role in protecting their employee’s usage of potentially harmful tools. Thus, what steps can executives take to respond to security challenges posed by ChatGPT? Here are some suggested tactics to consider:
All devices, whether on-premises or remote, must adhere to a new generative AI policy for all personnel with access to corporate information and intellectual property. Employees, contractors, and partners must be made aware of this policy.
Ensure all personnel is aware of the risks when entering sensitive information into any LLM, as it can result in leaking confidential details, proprietary information, or trade secrets into AI chatbots or language models.
Our standard confidentiality agreements include a clause about generative AI. Said clause will ensure that any PII (personally identifiable information) acquired through such technology is handled with utmost care and treated per the specifications of applicable laws.
When safeguarding intellectual property, consider restricting how employees share IP instead of using Learning Management Systems (LLMs) and related tools. This includes designs, blog posts, and virtually any other internal resources that should not be circulated publicly.
The user guide for the ChatGPT creator OpenAI mentions that it is not possible to delete particular prompts from a given history. Therefore, it is recommended to refrain from sharing sensitive information in conversations with the tool.
Vendors such as Cyberhaven have provided an extra layer of protection for confidential data by creating a generative AI security solution. Although this may be unnecessary, clearly relaying company policies and expectations regarding the use of AI models should be enough to avert any misuse.
An option exists to halt ChatGPT AI usage completely; while the industry analyzes any possible ramifications and ethical issues, many organizations have enforced temporary prohibitions.
Elon Musk and other AI experts have issued an open letter asking the industry to suspend large-scale AI experiments for six months to evaluate its potential societal implications. Our practitioner analysts have provided their views regarding this letter.
Unlocking The Potential Of AI
The global generative AI market is predicted to experience considerable growth from now through 2030, with Acumen Research and Consulting estimating a CAGR of 34.3% up to a value of $110.8 billion in that timeframe. Looking ahead, a further increase in AI adoption appears inevitable.
Businesses positively utilize generative AI in many ways, such as creating applications, improving customer service, facilitating research, generating content, and more. It is increasingly becoming an integral part of operations within most companies.
Leaders of an enterprise must weigh the pros and cons of utilizing generative AI carefully, as not doing so could cause them to fall behind competitors. To protect against potential security violations, they should implement policies that provide guidance when implementing such systems.
Organizations and policymakers must work together as these technologies evolve to ensure they are used responsibly and ethically. With the right approach, ChatGPT and generative AI can play a valuable role in enhancing cybersecurity and protecting against cybercrime in the years ahead.
Source: Acceleration Economy
