May 3, 2023: Samsung is restricting the use of generative artificial intelligence products like ChatGPT for employees after the company discovered such services were misapplied.

On Tuesday, the South Korean technology giant confirmed that it temporarily restricts the use of generative A.I. through the company’s personal computers.

Employees of one of Samsung’s most significant divisions were informed in a memo at the end of April that there had been cases of misuse of the technology.

ChatGPT is a viral A.I. chatbot trained on vast amounts of data and can generate responses to user queries. It is a form of so-called generative A.I.

Samsung still needs to get its own generative A.I. product. ChatGPT is developed by U.S. company OpenAI which Microsoft backs, while other fertile A.I. products include Google’s Bard. Inputting sensitive company data into these foreign-owned services could worry companies about crucial information leaks.

Samsung told employees to take precautions when which uses ChatGPT and different products outside of work and advised workers not to enter personal or company-related information into the services.

In a Samsung, company-wide survey conducted the previous month, 65% of those who answered stated there was concern regarding security risks when using generative A.I. services.

Samsung is not the only firm restricting the use of the technology. U.S. investment bank JPMorgan reportedly denied using ChatGPT among staff earlier this year. And this year, Amazon warned employees not to upload confidential information, including code, to ChatGPT.

Companies are assessing how generative A.I. capabilities could be used within their business. ChatGPT can support engineers in generating computer code, for example, to speed up their problems. Software creators at Goldman Sachs have been using generative A.I. to help generate code.

Despite the recent restrictions, Samsung is looking for ways in which generative A.I. could be used safely to enhance workers’ productivity and efficiency.