Workers are secretly using ChatGPT, AI and it will pose big risks for tech leaders
Lionel Bonaventure | Afp | Getty Images
Soaring investment from big tech companies in artificial intelligence and chatbots — amid massive layoffs and a growth decline — has left many chief information security officers in a whirlwind.
With OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Microsoft‘s Bing AI, Google‘s Bard and Elon Musk’s plan for his own chatbot making headlines, generative AI is seeping into the workplace, and chief information security officers need to approach this technology with caution and prepare with necessary security measures.
The tech behind GPT, or generative pretrained transformers, is powered by large language models (LLMs), or algorithms that produce a chatbot’s human-like conversations. But not every company has its own GPT, so companies need to monitor how workers use this technology.
People are going to use generative AI if they find it useful to do their work, says Michael Chui, a partner at the McKinsey Global Institute, comparing it to the way workers use personal computers or phones.
“Even when it’s not sanctioned or blessed by IT, people are finding [chatbots] useful,” Chui said.
“Throughout history, we’ve found technologies which are so compelling that individuals are willing to pay for it,” he said. “People were buying mobile phones long before businesses said, ‘I will supply this to you.’ PCs were similar, so we’re seeing the equivalent now with generative AI.”
As a result, there’s “catch up” for companies in terms of how the are going to approach security measures, Chui added.
Whether it’s standard business practice like monitoring what information is shared on an AI platform or integrating a company-sanctioned GPT in the workplace, experts think there are certain areas where CISOs and companies should start.
Start with the basics of information security
CISOs — already combating burnout and stress — deal with enough problems, like potential cybersecurity attacks and increasing automation needs. As AI and GPT move into the workplace, CISOs can start with the security basics.
Chui said companies can license use of an existing AI platform, so they can monitor what employees say to a chatbot and make sure that the information shared is protected.
“If you’re a corporation, you don’t want your employees prompting a publicly available chatbot with confidential information,” Chui said. “So, you could put technical means in place, where you can license the software and have an enforceable legal agreement about where your data goes or doesn’t go.”
Licensing use of software comes with additional checks and balances, Chui said. Protection of confidential information, regulation of where the information gets stored, and guidelines for how employees can use the software — all are standard procedure when companies license software, AI or not.
“If you have an agreement, you can audit the software, so you can see if they’re protecting the data in the ways that you want it to be protected,” Chui said.
Most companies that store information with cloud-based software already do this, Chui said, so getting ahead and offering employees an AI platform that’s company-sanctioned means a business is already in-line with existing industry practices.
How to create or integrate a customized GPT
One security option for companies is to develop their own GPT, or hire companies that create this technology to make a custom version, says Sameer Penakalapati, chief executive officer at Ceipal, an AI-driven talent acquisition platform.
In specific functions like HR, there are multiple platforms from Ceipal to Beamery’s TalentGPT, and companies may consider Microsoft’s plan to offer customizable GPT. But despite increasingly high costs, companies may also want to create their own technology.
If a company creates its own GPT, the software will have the exact information it wants employees to have access to. A company can also safeguard the information that employees feed into it, Penakalapati said, but even hiring an AI company to generate this platform will enable companies to feed and store information safely, he added.
Whatever path a company chooses, Penakalapati said that CISOs should remember that these machines perform based on how they have been taught. It’s important to be intentional about the data you’re giving the technology.
“I always tell people to make sure you have technology that provides information based on unbiased and accurate data,” Penakalapati said. “Because this technology is not created by accident.”
A Waymo rider-only robotaxi is seen during a test ride in San Francisco, California, U.S., December 9, 2022.
Paresh Dave | Reuters
Alphabet’s Waymo unit plans on bringing its robotaxi service to Dallas next year, adding to a growing list of prospective U.S. markets for 2026, including Miami and Washington, D.C.
Rental car company Avis Budget Group will be managing the Waymo fleet in Dallas, via a new partnership the companies announced Monday.
Avis CEO Brian Choi said in a statement that the agreement marks a “milestone” for the company, which is now also working to become “a leading provider of fleet management, infrastructure and operations to the broader mobility ecosystem.”
Waymo robotaxi testing is already underway in downtown Dallas involving the company’s Jaguar I-PACE electric vehicles with the Waymo Driver system. That combines automated driving software, sensors and other hardware that power the vehicles’ “level 4,” driverless operations.
Passengers will be able to hail a driverless ride using the Waymo app in Dallas. In some other markets, Waymo only makes its services available through ride-hailing platform Uber.
Waymo has surged ahead in the robotaxi market while other autonomous vehicle developers, including Tesla, Amazon-owned Zoox, and venture-backed startups such as Nuro, May Mobility and Wayve, are working to make autonomous transportation a commercial reality in the U.S.
Waymo says it conducts more than 250,000 paid weekly trips in the markets where it operates commercially, including Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco.
Waymo’s steepest competition internationally comes from Baidu’s robotaxi venture Apollo Go in China, which is eyeing expansion in Europe.
On Alphabet’s second-quarter earnings call, execs boasted that, “The Waymo Driver has now autonomously driven over 100 million miles on public roads, and the team is testing across more than 10 cities this year, including New York and Philadelphia.”
The business has become significant enough that Alphabet even added a category to its Other Bets revenue description in its latest quarterly filing.
“Revenues from Other Bets are generated primarily from the sale of autonomous transportation services, healthcare-related services and internet services,” the filing said.
The Other Bets segment remains relatively small, however, with revenue coming in at $373 million in the quarter, up from $365 million a year ago. The division still reported a loss of $1.25 billion, widening from $1.13 billion in the second quarter of 2024.
WATCH: Waymo co-CEO on 10 million driverless rides and Tesla’s coming robtaxi challenge
Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses on display in the window of a Ray Ban store in London, UK, on Friday, July 19, 2024.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Revenue from sales of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses more than tripled year over year, EssilorLuxottica revealed Monday as part of the company’s most recent earnings report.
EssilorLuxottica said the success of the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, built via a partnership with the Facebook parent stemming back to 2019, contributed to its first-half overall sales of 14.02 billion euro (US$16.25 billion), which represents a 7.3% year-over-year jump.
“We are leading the transformation of glasses as the next computing platform, one where AI, sensory tech and a data-rich healthcare infrastructure will converge to empower humans and unlock our full potential,” EssilorLuxottica CEO Francesco Milleri and deputy CEO Paul du Saillant said in a joint-statement. “The success of Ray-Ban Meta, the launch of Oakley Meta Performance AI glasses and the positive response to Nuance Audio are major milestones for us in this new frontier.”
In the earnings report, the company said that its new Oakley Meta smart glasses, unveiled in June, represents the latest product line to come from its partnership with the social media company. CNBC reported in June that Meta and Luxottica plan to debut a Prada-branded version of its smart glasses in the future.
Luxottica owns several well-known brands including Ray-Ban, Oakley, Vogue Eyewear and Persol.
In September, Meta renewed a long-term partnership agreement with Luxottica to “collaborate into the next decade to develop multi-generational smart eyewear products,” according to the announcement.
WATCH: Meta’s ambitious AI plans.
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