After discovering that such services were being abused, Samsung is banning employees’ use of so-called generative artificial intelligence technologies such as ChatGPT.
The South Korean technology conglomerate acknowledged to CNBC on Tuesday (May 2, 2023) that it is temporarily limiting the usage of generative AI via the company’s personal PCs.
Employees of one of Samsung’s biggest divisions were informed of the move in a memo at the end of April after there had been cases of misuse of the technology.
Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that some staff had uploaded sensitive code to ChatGPT.
ChatGPT is a viral AI chatbot that is trained on huge amounts of data and is able to generate response to user queries. It is a form of so-called generative AI.
Samsung does not have its own generative AI product yet. ChatGPT is developed by U.S. firm OpenAI which is backed by Microsoft while other generative AI products include Google’s Bard. Companies concerned about critical information leaks may be concerned about entering sensitive company data into these foreign-owned platforms.
Samsung recommended employees to exercise caution when using ChatGPT and other products outside of work, and to avoid entering any personal or company-related information into the services.
In a Samsung company-wide survey conducted last month, 65% of those who responded said there was concern about security risks when using generative AI services.
Samsung is not the only company restricting use of the technology. U.S. investment bank JPMorgan reportedly restricted use of ChatGPT among staff earlier this year. And Amazon this year reportedly warned employees not to upload confidential information, including code, to ChatGPT.
Companies are assessing ways in which generative AI capabilities could be used within their business. ChatGPT can help engineers to generate computer code for example, to speed up their tasks. Software developers at Goldman Sachs have been using generative AI to help generate code.
Despite the new restrictions, Samsung is looking for ways to use generative AI safely to improve employee productivity and efficiency.
