- Samsung restricts employees’ use of so-called generative artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT after the company found such services were being abused.
- The South Korean tech giant confirmed to CNBC on Tuesday that it is temporarily restricting the use of generative AI by the company’s PCs.
- Samsung urged employees to take precautions when using ChatGPT and other products outside of work and advised employees not to enter any personal or company-related information into the services.
Chung Sung Jun | News from Getty Images | Getty Images
Samsung restricts employees’ use of so-called generative artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT after the company found such services were being abused.
The South Korean tech giant confirmed to CNBC on Tuesday that it is temporarily restricting the use of generative AI by the company’s PCs.
Employees at one of Samsung’s largest divisions were informed of the move in a memo at the end of April, after allegations of abuse of the technology.
Bloomberg reported Tuesday that some employees uploaded sensitive code to ChatGPT.
ChatGPT is a viral AI chatbot trained on huge amounts of data and capable of generating responses to user queries. It is a form of so-called generative AI.
Samsung does not yet have its own generative AI product. ChatGPT is developed by US company OpenAI, which is backed by Microsoft, while other generative AI products include Google’s Bard. Entering sensitive company data into these foreign-owned services could be a problem for companies worried about leaking important information.
Samsung urged employees to take precautions when using ChatGPT and other products outside of work and advised employees not to enter any personal or company-related information into the services.
In a company-wide Samsung survey conducted last month, 65% of respondents said they were concerned about the security risks of using generative AI services.
Samsung isn’t the only company restricting the use of the technology. US investment bank JPMorgan reportedly restricted its employees’ use of ChatGPT earlier this year. And Amazon reportedly warned employees earlier this year about uploading sensitive information, including code, to ChatGPT.
Companies are exploring ways in which generative AI capabilities could be used in their business. ChatGPT can help engineers, for example, generate computer code to speed up their tasks. Software developers at Goldman Sachs used generative AI to generate code.
Despite recent limitations, Samsung is exploring ways in which generative AI can be safely deployed to increase employee productivity and efficiency.