Don't Use ChatGPT At Work

Uploaded on 2023-06-26 in TECHNOLOGY-Key Areas-Artificial Intelligence, NEWS-Cybersecurity News, FREE TO VIEW

Using ChatGPT without a proper framework can be a legal minefield, endangering both employers and employees. As a consequence, it is essential to be aware of the potential hazards associated with using ChatGPT in the workplace.

Right now, ChatGPT has around 800 million active users per month. ChatGPT is a chatbot powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), created by OpenAI.

It uses natural language processing to simulate conversational responses to prompts provided by users. As a result, ChatGPT can provide written content for users. This can vary from creative writing to business-related materials, like proposals and marketing plans.

It can also generate code in programming languages such as Python and Java, as well as legal documents such as style contracts, wills and dispositions. Now, according to a study by LayerX Security , 15% of employees regularly post sensitive company data into ChatGPT, putting their employers at risk of a security breach. The research report, titled “Revealing the True genAI Data Exposure Risk”, analysed the behavior of over 10,000 employees and examined how they use generative AI apps in the workplace.

The findings concluded that at least 15% of workers use these tools at work, and almost 25% of these times include a data paste into the app. Not only is the technology being used by an increasing number of employees, but as mush 11% of what employees are pasting into ChatGPT is sensitive data.

ChatGPT

ChatGPT is a language model developed by OpenAI that can engage in natural language conversations with humans. It is designed to understand and respond to a wide variety of questions and topics, ranging from general knowledge to specific domains, including science, technology, history, and literature.

The numbers provided in the report will only grow as the popularity of AI-based tools increases. "Soon, we predict, employees will be using GenAI as part of their daily workflow, just like they use email, chats (Slack), video conferencing (Zoom, Teams), project management, and other productivity tools,” say LayerX.

This phenomenon poses significant risks to organisations concerning the security and privacy of sensitive data.

Furthermore, the report states that the top categories of confidential information being input into the GenAI tools are 43% internal business data and 31% source code, which pose the highest exposure risks.

The study also found that a significant portion of these workers do not rely solely on instructions and prompts, but also paste data directly into the app, which exposes sensitive company data. “Organizations might be unknowingly sharing their plans, product, and customer data with competitors and attackers,” LayerX report.

What is clear from the rise in popularity of ChatGPT and AI and the number of employees using it, is that the technology is likely to be here to stay. As a result, employers need to consider sooner rather than later the potential risks it poses and whether they should put in place an outright ban on its use in a work context or not.

Employers must take appropriate steps to address the risks and potential legal implications associated with using ChatGPT in the workplace. The decision to allow employees to use ChatGPT in their daily tasks is crucial and can have a significant impact on the company’s reputation and compliance obligations.

Whilst businesses shouldn’t automatically assume that their staff members are using ChatGPT, if they don’t want their employees to be using it for work purposes then they should make that clear.

Nelsons Law: LayerX Security: Harper Macleod: I-HLS: Business Review: Business Insider: CyberNews:

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