Even Google is warning its employees about AI chatbot use

Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has been all in on artificial intelligence for years, from buying (and then selling) Boston Dynamics to making scientific achievements through DeepMind, and, more recently, making the topic the main event at this year’s Google I/O, following the launch of its AI chatbot, Google Bard. Now, the company advises its employees to be careful of what they say to these AI bots, even its own.

According to a report from Reuters, Alphabet warned its employees not to share confidential information with AI chatbots, as this information is subsequently stored by the companies that own the technology.

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This comes straight from the horse’s mouth, but it’s excellent advice regardless of who says it. It’s also not generally a good idea to make a habit of sharing private or confidential information anywhere online.

Anything you say to an AI chatbot like ChatGPT, Google Bard, and Bing Chat can be used to train it, as these bots are based on large language models (LLMs) that are in constant training. The companies behind these AI chatbots also store the data, which could be visible to their employees. 

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Of Bard, Google’s AI chatbot, the company explains in its FAQs:

“When you interact with Bard, Google collects your conversations, your location, your feedback, and usage information. That data helps us provide, improve and develop Google products, services, and machine-learning technologies, as explained in the Google Privacy PolicyOpens in a new window“

Google also says it selects a subset of conversations as samples to be reviewed by trained reviewers and kept for up to three years, so it clarifies to “not include information that can be used to identify you or others in your Bard conversations.”

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OpenAI says on its site that AI trainers also review ChatGPT conversations to help improve its systems, saying, “We review conversations to improve our systems and to ensure the content complies with our policies and safety requirements.”