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The risks of AI chatbot implementation in the workplace

AI chatbots like ChatGPT can provide significant benefits in terms of both speed and efficiency in today's fast-paced business environment, but they also pose some potential risks, so their use should be carefully considered and monitored.


First of all: what is ChatGPT?


OpenAI created ChatGPT, an AI-powered chatbot with the intention to have natural conversations with humans, understanding and responding to almost any topic or question. The chatbot has been pre-trained on a massive dataset of text data.


Why are businesses using ChatGPT?


ChatGPT is one of the most remarkable publicly available chatbots. It enables anyone to be more productive by automating routine or repetitive tasks.


For businesses, it could power a customer support bot or write an email response for you, freeing up time for more important tasks.


People are recognising the potential impact and implementing it wherever possible. This is clear from their 100 million users, 1 million of whom joined in the first five days of release, making it one of the fastest-growing web applications ever.


What are the risks of using ChatGPT in the workplace?


As of now, it appears that this technology could be revolutionary for a business, making many tasks easier and less expensive, so what could go wrong?


Even in its current state, ChatGPT occasionally fails to understand prompts or provides incorrect information. Worse still, even if the information is incorrect, ChatGPT will remain confident in its own answers. This causes problems, especially if the person asking the prompts isn't well-versed in the subject matter. If a response is used incorrectly, this can lead to misunderstandings, confusion, and even legal issues.


The most serious issue, however, is the risk to privacy and security. When someone uses a chatbot, the provider will usually save the prompt that you submitted. If this provider suffers a data breach or a cyber attack, your information may be compromised.


Furthermore, chatbots typically learn from your prompts, so if a user provided sensitive information about themselves or their company, this could be used as learning data, and the chatbot could potentially release that in response to someone else.


How can you stay safe when using ChatGPT?


If you are an employee, sole proprietor, or small business owner, make sure that you do not use sensitive information in your chatbot prompts to ChatGPT or any other chatbots. Also, if the topic you're asking about is something you don't know much about, always double-check the responses against other information.


If you are an employer or in a managerial position, it is critical that you educate yourself and those around you about the potential risks associated with the use of chatbots.


Make sure you clearly define the scope for which employees can use chatbots, as well as any limitations that may exist.


This would be in addition to regular review to ensure that it is current with any new regulations or legislation that may emerge in the future. You could also provide training on how to use chatbots correctly to increase efficiency while reducing risk; if that is something you decide is right for your organisation, it is critical to solicit feedback from users to help you understand where it could fit in with your business practises.


Implementing these best practises could be the key to leveraging the power of cutting-edge AI in your business.


Start educating yourself and your staff today with security awareness training, delivered by one of our Cyber Path students.


Security awareness training is designed to keep you and your staff up to date with the latest cyber security threats that you might face. Contact us to find out more.

 

Reporting

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The contents of blog posts on this website are provided for general information only and are not intended to replace specific professional advice relevant to your situation. The intention of East Midlands Cyber Resilience Centre (EMCRC) is to encourage cyber resilience by raising issues and disseminating information on the experiences and initiatives of others. Articles on the website cannot by their nature be comprehensive and may not reflect most recent legislation, practice, or application to your circumstances. EMCRC provides affordable services and Trusted Partners if you need specific support. For specific questions please contact us by email.

 

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