Samsung Bans Generative AI Tools Like ChatGPT After Employees Confide In Bot
Don’t trust anyone, living or non-living, with secrets, tech giants are warning their employees.
According to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg, Samsung is temporarily restricting staff from using the growingly popular bevy of generative artificial intelligence tools after it found that engineers had uploaded sensitive code to ChatGPT in April.
The South Korean consumer tech brand is the next to voice out its stance on the “misuse” of confidential information with such technology. In January, Amazon reminded its engineers not to disclose secrets with the platform after learning that the chatbot had aced questions typically asked during its job interviews.
In Samsung’s case, staff had shared private source code with ChatGPT to check it for errors as well as generate meeting notes, prompting the company to bar the use of such services lest sensitive data enters external servers and reaches the public.
Samsung has confirmed with several news outlets that a temporary ban has been placed on such tools on the company’s personal computers.
In its note to staff, it also urged staffers to exercise due diligence when using ChatGPT and similar services during their free time and on their personal devices, reminding them not to reveal any personal or company information to the bots. Violating the new guidelines could result in offenders being fired, the company forewarned.
The ban is internal and kept to company-owned computers, phones, and tablets. Consumers will still be able to access generative AI programs from their own gadgets.
At the same time, Samsung is exploring how generative AI can boost work productivity and efficiency, Bloomberg learns. It’s currently developing translation and document summarization tools for staff, as well as working out techniques to prevent company data from leaking to unwanted parties.
“However, until these measures are prepared, we are temporarily restricting the use of generative AI,” Samsung’s memo reiterated.
[via CNBC, Mashable, Bloomberg, cover photo 272546505 © RobertWei | Dreamstime.com]
