Not to skip over the holidays, but the new year is rapidly approaching, and it is more than clear that—short of a Y2K-level event—artificial intelligence isn’t going anywhere. Quite the opposite: AI is being adopted en masse, and for many, it’s without any oversight or strategy… or appreciation for how dangerous it is to feed data into AI without any thought or consideration.
AI Isn’t a Coworker Any More Than a Car is a Chauffeur
While we all want to think of modern AI as what was promised to us in popular culture and media, this is far from the truth. In reality, all artificial intelligence is essentially a machine that can identify patterns and extract data from the Internet.
As such, the results that an AI can produce will only be as good as the data it uses to consolidate its information and compile its conclusions.
It is also crucial to recognize that any data you input into the AI becomes part of its comprehensive reference data and can therefore be used by the program to answer any query it receives. We’ll touch on this again shortly.
What Are the Reasons that Data is a Vulnerability Where AI is Involved?
AI currently faces two significant issues that you need to be aware of as you use it:
Not Everything on the Internet is True
It should come as no surprise that the Internet is rife with misinformation and half-truths, as many people take advantage of it to share and spread their own biases. Let’s say someone just isn’t a fan of apples, so they construct an argument that hinges on the blatantly untrue “fact” that the most venomous spiders use developing apples as a nesting ground for their young, allowing them to take in the nutrients but also adding their own venom to the fruit.
Again, this is simply not true—I cannot emphasize enough how untrue it is—but since it is published on the Internet, there is a non-zero chance that an AI could pick it up and insert it into its responses as if it were gospel truth. Keep this in mind the next time you turn to AI to help you make a business decision, and how someone whose interests don’t align with yours could have potentially poisoned the well.
AI Doesn’t Take Confidentiality into Account
Let’s make one thing clear: AI can be great for some things. However, public AI tools can quickly introduce problems if they are used without considering what is being fed into the machine.
Public AI tools are just that—public—so they not only can be used by anyone, but they’ll use the data that anyone feeds them to make all of their future determinations.
Now, consider what could happen if your strategy documents are uploaded into an AI platform with the request to identify any patterns that are consistent between your most lucrative customers, or to create social media posts to help publicize your currently secret plans to launch a new service. What happens when HR provides the AI with all of your team’s sensitive performance reviews to speed up their feedback writing?
Any data you provide to a public AI platform is added to the database used to generate responses. As such, unless your entire team is careful about how public AI platforms are used, you’re burning any advantage your data could have provided.
None of This is Good… But You Can Regain Control Moving Forward
All this doesn’t mean that you can’t or shouldn’t use AI. You just need to be careful about the data you give it as you use it. Here’s a process that will help:
Step One - Classify Your Data: Clearly delineate what data is too sensitive to feed into an AI, and what is publicly available and safe to use. By defining what should never be used with AI, you can minimize what is shared that shouldn’t be.
Step Two - Create a Usage Policy: All that classification you’ve done needs to be turned into official company policy and shared with your team members. Give them the freedom to experiment with AI tools, but safely.
Step Three - Consider Private Options: There are AI tools available that are owned and operated by you, utilizing only your own data and secured to maintain your privacy. If suitable for you, these tools can enable you to fully leverage AI without also allowing your competitors to benefit from your work.
Solving Data Leakage Minimizes the Danger of AI
While everyone is concerned about what AI could potentially do in the future, too few are considering the extent of access they currently give to these tools and technologies. I hope the tips shared here help you keep your sensitive information appropriately confidential and allow you to use AI more responsibly and to your advantage.
Business Solutions & Software Group can also help. Contact our team of IT professionals for assistance with data protection, policy creation, and other general IT needs. Learn more about what we have to offer by calling (954) 575-3992.
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