Why Apple, Samsung, Citigroup Others Ban Employees from Using ChatGPT at Work

As the world embraces the evolution and power of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the controversy surrounding the adoption of ChatGPT tends not to be going down soon.

This is evident as about ten big corporations ban their employees from using ChatGPT at work, even though others like Google, Coca Cola, Zoho and Bain & Company found a way around it to increase productivity.

These ten companies are Apple, Samsung, Verizon, Citigroup, Bank of America, Calix, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, an aerospace and defence technology company Northrup Grumman and JPMorgan Chase. To these companies, the security risks far outweigh the productivity benefit, they claimed.

Recall, Business Remarks reported that ChatGPT makes its debut as a smartphone app on iPhones iOS and will later be coming to Android phones.

Also Read: Zoho Integrates ChatGPT with Zia to Strengthen Generative AI Capabilities

The other complication stems from the fact that most chatbots and AI services rely on user inputs to train their models and may accidentally serve other users a company’s proprietary data without even being aware of it. While ChatGPT offers users a way to disable saving chat histories, it is not turned on by default. It is also unclear if deleting a chat has any impact if a service has already used the conversation for training its models. In March, OpenAI had to briefly shut down ChatGPT to resolve a bug that allowed some users to see parts of another user’s chat history.

Growing Concern

Apple is restricting workers from using ChatGPT and other third-party A.I. tools, citing concerns about confidential data leaks.

Bank of America added ChatGPT to its list of unauthorized apps that employees are prohibited from using for business. This is after U.S. regulators levied over $2 billion in fines for the firm’s failure to monitor employee use of unauthorized messaging apps like WhatsApp.

Calix CEO Michael Weening cited Samsung’s recent leak as the driving reason for the ban, writing it is “disconcerting” that ChatGPT could expose sensitive information like confidential internal memos or customer contracts under NDA to outsiders.

Also Read: ChatGPT: What Cybersecurity Dangers Hide Behind this Impressive New Technology

Citigroup also added ChatGPT to its standard firm-wide controls for third-party software, where certain categories of websites are automatically restricted.

Deutsche Bank also noted it aims to protect the bank from data leakage rather than an indication of the tool’s usefulness.

Like Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase blocked access to ChatGPT for employees through an automatic restriction on third-party software, as Bloomberg first reported in February.

The aerospace and defence technology company, Northrup Grumman says it doesn’t share company or customer information with outside tools until vetted.

For Verizon and Samsung, they noted the decision was taken to prevent the risk of losing control of sensitive data. Concern about privacy and security, Samsung banned employee use of ChatGPT and other generative A.I. tools in early May. The restriction came after engineers accidentally leaked confidential information, including internal code and meeting recordings, in April, by uploading it to the chatbot.

The Italian government also became the world’s first country to block the chatbot after banning the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT.

Although sparking local controversy, Italy’s Data Protection Authority said it had ordered California-based OpenAI to temporarily block the country’s internet users from gaining access to ChatGPT following a verified data breach that it claims represents a possible violation of European Union data protection rules.

According to the Italian government watchdog, OpenAI has been illegally gathering personal data from Italian customers involving ChatGPT “users’ conversations” and information about subscriber payments and did not have an age-verification system in place, exposing children to responses from the chatbot that is “absolutely inappropriate to their age and awareness,” it said in a statement.

Business Remarks finding also revealed that some of these companies are considering developing their own A.I. tools, while companies like Accenture, Amazon and PwC Australia did not outrightly ban ChatGPT usage. ©Forbes