Samsung prohibits employees from using ChatGPT and similar AI tools on company devices

What you need to know

• Samsung’s memo to employees spoke of the company’s ban on the use of generative AI in the workplace.
• A Korean OEM discovered a serious and accidental data leak by an engineer who uploaded data to ChatGPT.
• Employees are prohibited from using ChatGPT and other AI chatbots on company owned devices, and doing so against the ban will get them fired.

Employees of South Korean tech giant Samsung are prohibited from using any generative AI tools.

According to Bloomberg, a memo was sent to all Samsung employees citing the new ban on all uses of generative AI, particularly ChatGPT, on the company’s devices. The catalyst for this ban comes from Samsung, which discovered back in April that its engineers had mistakenly uploaded internal source code to ChatGPT. While it’s unclear what information was leaked, it was enough for Samsung to cut out the use of AI tools in the workplace here.

“Interest in generative AI platforms such as ChatGPT is growing both internally and externally,” Samsung says in the note. “While this attention is focused on the usefulness and efficiency of these platforms, there are also growing concerns about the security risks presented by generative AI.” A Korean OEM conducted a survey in April, questioning the use of AI internally, and found that 65% of respondents see AI as a security risk.

(Image credit: Nicholas Sutrich/Android Central)

The company has expressed more concerns about its employees’ use of generative AI in the workplace due to uncertainty about where the data is stored. Samsung is concerned that any data put into Microsoft’s Bing AI ChatGPT and even Google’s Bard could be stored on external servers, making it difficult to delete.

In addition to banning these AI tools on company devices, the company has reportedly required employees not to have company-related information on their personal devices either. If anyone is caught violating these new terms, they risk being fired.

AI-powered chatbots seem to be everywhere now, and Samsung has stated that it is creating its own AI tools for internal use. It will be used to translate and summarize documents and to develop new software. However, the Korean manufacturer appears to be looking into implementing a ban on sensitive data so that you can’t leave the company.

It’s an interesting move for Samsung as many companies have begun to embrace the rise of generative AI over the past several months. Rumors have it Samsung switching to Microsoft’s ChatGPT-powered Bing as default on Galaxy devices instead of Google search. Microsoft has already started integrating the new Bing Chat into SwiftKey Keyboard, and it is Released for Samsung users now.

However, the restrictions appear to be only temporary as Samsung is working on implementing appropriate security measures to allow the use of generative AI.

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