Why You Should Think Twice Before Using AI

AI and ChatGPT have taken the world by storm. I admit my own fascination with it. From giving me a recipe using the ingredients I have on hand, to telling me how to program my wireless contacts type, I use AI for many things that I would normally look up on Google.

I also find myself using it during the workday. For instance, I can create this macro in Google Sheets. I know I am not alone in asking ChatGPT for help. You’re probably already doing it yourself. But as a business executive, you must ask yourself: How will the data I put into ChatGPT be used? 

The wonder and grandeur of AI has overshadowed an incredibly important topic: data privacy. We must start asking ourselves and AI companies where they are putting our data. Where is it stored? How are we protected? And, importantly, what kind of data are my employees putting into the big AI cloud?

All the queries you or your employees put into the AI machine will be used to grow AI models without reference to your work and without protections in place. Be it contracts, code, transcripted data, analyses, business processes or secrets, we risk this information becoming publicly available.

Well, the frightening answer is: Nobody knows. Our data is now public in a context that no one can currently protect. This is a good puzzle for lawyers. How do you protect business secrets or intellectual property rights (IPR)? 

We don’t know how, where, why or when your data requests are used in another context. It is AI. We are feeding it. It is growing. But what is it growing into? Again, nobody knows.

Using AI as a content provider, or as a pull, is safe, but if you push data into it - be aware that sensitive business or personal information is not currently protected.

This landscape is changing but my advice, for now, is to make a policy for your employees. Be explicit that employees cannot feed business-critical data (or even worse; data that you use regarding your IPR) to AI tools. Otherwise - don’t be surprised to find your data accessible to everyone else using ChatGPT. 

- Kresten Wiingaard, Adapt CEO

Still curious about how AI is changing our industry? Learn more here.