Samsung is limiting the use of its generative AI service, Tech Crunch reports. This comes just a month after confidential Samsung internal data was accidentally leaked to ChatGPT.
The company plans to temporarily block the use of artificial intelligence tools on its devices, and this includes computers, tablets and phones, as well as devices not owned by the company and running on internal networks. The ban will extend not only to ChatGPT, but also services that use the technology, such as Microsoft’s Bing, as well as competing AI-generating services such as Google’s Bard.
The rule will only apply to devices issued by Samsung to its workers, meaning consumers and others who own Samsung phones, laptops and other connected devices will not be affected. It’s unclear if it has already gone into effect or when it will go into effect.
According to a memo dated Monday seen by Bloomberg, the restriction will be temporary and will continue while it builds “security measures to create a secure environment to safely use generative artificial intelligence to enhance employee productivity and efficiency.”
Despite all the euphoria ChatGPT has been generating in recent months, in addition to leaks of proprietary data to the service, as happened with Samsung last month, there have also been reports of potential data privacy breaches, copyright violations and inaccuracies in ChatGPT responses.
After the leak, Samsung asked employees using generative AI tools elsewhere “not to provide any company-related information or personal data” that could reveal its intellectual property, according to the memo reviewed by Bloomberg.
One problem Samsung noted is that it’s difficult to “download and delete” data on external servers, and data passed to such AI tools could be disclosed to other users. An internal Samsung survey in April showed that around 65% of participants said that using generative AI tools posed a security risk.