After learning that staff members had uploaded sensitive code to the platform, Samsung Electronics has decided to forbid employees from using well-known generative AI tools like ChatGPT, putting a stop to the adoption of this kind of technology in the workplace.
In a memo seen by Bloomberg News, the Suwon, South Korea-based company informed staff at one of its largest divisions of the new policy on Monday. According to the document, the company is concerned that information sent to artificial intelligence platforms like Google Bing and Google Bard is stored on external servers, making it difficult to retrieve and delete and possibly exposing the information to other users.
According to a survey the company conducted last month about the use of AI tools internally, 65% of respondents think that such services present a security risk. The memo claims that Samsung engineers unintentionally uploaded internal source code to ChatGPT earlier in April. The information’s scope is unknown, and a Samsung representative declined to comment.
Samsung informed staff that interest in generative AI platforms like ChatGPT has been rising both internally and externally. “While this interest focuses on the usefulness and efficiency of these platforms, there are also growing concerns about the security risks presented by generative AI.”
The latest major corporation to voice concerns about technology is Samsung. Several Wall Street banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup, either banned or restricted the use of chatbots in February, just a few months after OpenAI’s chatbot service sparked a flurry of interest in the technology. Due to privacy concerns, Italy also forbade the use of ChatGPT, though it has since changed its mind.
The use of generative AI systems is prohibited by the new Samsung policies on company-owned laptops, tablets, and mobile devices as well as on its internal networks. Consumer electronics from the company, such as Windows laptops and Android smartphones, are unaffected.
When using ChatGPT and other tools on their own devices, Samsung asked staff members not to submit any work-related details or private information that might compromise the company’s trade secrets. It stated that disobeying the new rules could result in termination.
According to Samsung in the memo, failure to follow security policies “may result in a breach or compromise of company information resulting in disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment.”
The business is currently developing its own internal AI tools for software development, document translation, and summarization. Additionally, it is figuring out how to prevent sensitive company data from being uploaded to outside services. The “incognito” mode, which ChatGPT recently added, enables users to prevent their chats from being used to train AI models.
“HQ is reviewing security measures to create a secure environment for safely using generative AI to enhance employees’ productivity and efficiency,” the memo stated. “However, we are temporarily limiting the use of generative AI until these measures are prepared.”
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