Tech companies and their clients “pay a high price” to ChatGPT for its work, even if they use an open-source AI tool. What if you are “selling” your reputation when rising productivity with the help of human-like response generators?

Let's consider the ChatGPT security risks and suggest a couple of harmless ways to make friends with robotic assistants for your tech project.

Short History of ChatGPT Security Issues

We know why you might be among over 100 million users who like ChatGPT. When working in tech, it’s hard to resist the temptation to realize the potential that the large language model brings to the table. ChatGPT and its analogues (to various degrees) are powerful when it comes to compiling, editing and commenting colossal amounts of code in the shortest possible time.

No doubt, such a skill can optimize the software development life cycle and save money. While the attempts to develop independent artificial intelligence serve talented tech teams and… scammers.

Since the data breach in March 2022, ChatGPT has been provoking hot discussions. If the leak of personal payment information and other sensitive data became possible, why not generate fresh (and reasonable) thoughts about copyright infringement and more?

Some G7 countries began to take care of AI-related privacy threats. Currently, the tool is forbidden in Italy, mainly because it has not passed the check on matching GDPR standards. Now, the EU, UK, and Canada prepare legislative regulations investigating how AI usage influences privacy. The USA started to think of the same idea.

According to Forbes, such giants as Samsung, Amazon and serious banks have already strictly limited generative AI usage for their employees. The reason for that step was the incident with ill-conceived code sharing at Samsung development department.

Paramount Concerns are Related to GDPR

You can fully grasp the GenAI risks if keep in mind both sides.

What Do We See First?

The AI model, developed by OpenAI, utilizes deep learning techniques to engage in natural language conversations. It can boost code and content generation, support chatbots, etc.

What is Behind the Scenes?

Potentially vulnerable and stolen sensitive data. The “big brain” interacts with users and processes their inputs, it has access to a wealth of confidential business data you share. You need a solid shield to keep your development plans and user databases as your company’s intellectual property.

Misuse for malicious purposes. As with any powerful AI technology, there is a concern that criminals could exploit ChatGPT to generate harmful or misleading content, such as spreading disinformation, launching phishing attacks, or manipulating users into divulging sensitive information.

Accidentally shared private information. ChatGPT learns from what you “say” to it and might inadvertently include sensitive information in its responses to other people. Secret data from the GenAI training patterns also could leak.

Why else Ring the Bells?

You want to retain your clients, right? Then, ensure the responsible and ethical use of Generative AI. By prioritizing data privacy and protection, companies can instill trust in their users and stakeholders. And vice versa, by supporting and producing software that is non-compliant with the GDPR, you lose a significant audience and can luxuriate in severe fines. It's worth noting that the European law can affect businesses worldwide.

Got It, but Want to Use AI — Are There Any Scenarios to Maintain Effective Cybersecurity?

In case you invite AI to help you or not, there are always potential threats of data leakages and data breaks when you have to safeguard sensitive materials. So, the apple of your eye is daily routine and picky choice of tools.

4 Habits to Keep Your Incognito in ChatGPT

It’s all about behavior. What about hiking in pajamas with empty pockets? The self-preservation instinct suggests taking matches to make a fire in winter or a cream to scare mosquitos away in summer. Remember that you are on the “alien land” without any rules, not at home.

• Master Data Anonymization and Encryption Techniques

  To protect user data, anonymize personally identifiable information (PII) before feeding it into ChatGPT. Thus, you have no direct link established between the generated responses and individual users.

  Additionally, employing encryption techniques such as secure socket layers (SSL) or transport layer security (TLS) during data transmission helps to safeguard the privacy and integrity of the information.

• Strengthen Access Controls and Authentication Mechanisms

  Only authorized individuals should have access to ChatGPT and its underlying data. Think of robust logging mechanisms and intrusion detection. Enable user authentication, role-based access control (RBAC), and multifactor authentication (MFA).

• Take Security Revisions as an Ongoing Effort

  New threats and technologies emerge after you finish your check-up. But if you are persistent, you can detect any suspicious behavior or unauthorized access attempts. Track system activities regularly to respond to security incidents in a timely fashion. Also, we suggest security talks with the team are never superfluous. Follow the changes in the news landscape and plan your “ChatGPT explanations”.

• Keep Your Security Certification Up-to-date

  Implement the standard cybersecurity framework if you haven’t done it yet. Learn more about NIST CSF, ISO 27001, ISO 27002 and, of course, GDPR and CCPA. There are a lot of courses where you can study best practices — choose the most relevant one for you or/and your security department.

Signs of a More Reliable AI Tool

You can take into account some requirements for the programming AI tools to be adopted by companies with high security demands.

• Trained on Local or Private Datasets

  Instead of relying solely on public datasets, organizations should consider training their AI models on local or private datasets that adhere to strict data privacy regulations. This approach minimizes the exposure of sensitive information and ensures greater control over the data used to train the model.

• With Privacy-Preserving Techniques Onboard

  Explore federated learning or differential privacy. These are methods to protect user data by training generative AI on decentralized data sources or by adding noise to the training data to guarantee privacy while maintaining the model's effectiveness.

It Is Unlikely To Imagine The Future of Tech without AI

Technologies like ChatGPT become increasingly integrated into various industries.

First, we’d like to say, that it is vital to maintain a positive outlook.

To rise their revenues, monsters like Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Netflix, and the rest of the list are investing tons of money into the development of artificial intelligence.

To meet the fair requirements of society, OpenAI, the AI community, and organizations at large are driving advancements in security measures. The collaborative nature of the AI community ensures sharing of knowledge and expertise. It leads to collective growth in AI security practices. CEO of the OpenAI, Sam Altman, decided to fight for the presence of his revolution-making company in the EU even with the new strict regulations promised.

Secondly, the legends about the redundancy of human coding in the future with ChatGPT still remain just a horror story for junior programmers. AI-generated code too often lacks expertise and creativity, and can’t cover the needs and threats of software architecture creation.

Tech companies can harness the full potential of ChatGPT by staying proactive, adhering to ethical guidelines, and leveraging the expertise of specialized teams. At the same time, IT outstaffing services can help tech to engage the right people who respect privacy and can deal with advanced AI technologies when necessary and with proper approach.

Together we can shape a future where AI technologies stand for the security of individuals and organizations.

FAQ

1. How to arrange the security of ChatGPT use within tech companies?

   Security concerns surrounding ChatGPT and ensuring data protection require a multi-faceted approach. Build your coding practices with a well-established cybersecurity process. Rely on approved frameworks, data anonymization, encryption techniques, access controls, and privacy-preserving techniques.

2. Are there any threats to ChatGPT?

   ChatGPT utilizes LLM and is not immune to misinformation, propaganda, biases, and generating offensive content. This poses risks such as the spread of harmful or abusive text. Social engineers could also manipulate users with convincing phishing messages. Privacy concerns arise from storing user data and managing interactions with ChatGPT.

3. What are the benefits of ChatGPT for tech companies?

   It helps with marketing and sales.

   ChatGPT can handle a bunch of inquiries simultaneously 24/7. It provides instant multilingual responses, and guidance, recommends relevant tech products and services or reminds about upgrades. As an app with inbuilt generative AI, it analyzes user behavior and provides you with data insights. So you can identify patterns, understand customer pain points, and make informed business decisions about improvements. Also, you can “teach” your AI assistant to act in many other company-specific scenarios.

   It allows you to shorten the software development flow.

   Programmers can delegate certain routine operations to ChatGPT if they are ready to thoroughly supervise machine-generated answers.

by Kateryna Balakyreva
on June 8, 2023. Share on LinkedIn Post on Twitter

Kateryna joined the IT industry 3 years ago. Reviewing B2B software and related frameworks, she concluded that the best-in-class programs need well-built teams and started to write about tech teams scaling. Her natural habit to improve texts and search for alternative visions comes from working at the publishing house in early youth.