What you need to know
- Samsung's memo to employees spoke on the company's ban on the use of generative AI in the workplace.
- The Korean OEM discovered a critical, accidental data leak by an engineer who uploaded data to ChatGPT.
- Employees are banned from using ChatGPT and other AI chatbots on company-owned devices, doing so against the ban will result in being fired.
Employees of the South Korean tech giant Samsung are being banned from using any such generative AI tools.
According to Bloomberg, a memo was reportedly sent out to all Samsung employees signifying the new ban on all the use of generative AI, notably ChatGPT, on company devices. The catalyst for this ban comes from Samsung apparently discovering back in April that its engineers accidentally uploaded internal source code to ChatGPT. While it's unclear what information was leaked, it was enough for Samsung to cut the use of AI tools in the workplace here.
"Interest in generative AI platforms such as ChatGPT has been growing internally and externally," Samsung says in the memo. "While this interest focuses on the usefulness and efficiency of these platforms, there are also growing concerns about security risks presented by generative AI." The Korean OEM conducted a survey in April, questioning the use of AI internally, and found that 65% of those that participated see AI as a security risk.
The company expressed further concerns about its staff utilizing generative AI in the workplace because of uncertainty about where the data is being stored. Samsung is worried that any data placed into Microsoft's Bing AI ChatGPT and even Google's Bard could be stored on external servers, which would make it difficult to delete.
In addition to banning these AI tools on company devices, the company reportedly asked that employees not have company-related information on their personal devices, too. If anyone is caught breaching these new terms, they risk being fired.
AI chatbots are everywhere now, it seems, and Samsung stated it is creating its own AI tools for internal use. It will be used for translating, summarizing documents, and for developing new software. However, it looks like the Korean OEM is looking at implementing a block on sensitive data so it cannot leave the company.
It's an interesting move for Samsung as many companies have started embracing the rise of generative AI over the past several months. Rumors point to Samsung switching to Microsoft's ChatGPT-powered Bing as a default on Galaxy devices instead of Google Search. Microsoft has already begun integrating the new Bing Chat into the SwiftKey keyboard, which is rolling out to Samsung users now.
However, it seems the restrictions are only temporary as Samsung works to implement the appropriate security measures to allow the use of generative AI.
