ChatGPT Privacy and Security Considerations

ChatGPT has become an incredibly popular tool, but while it can be used for a number of purposes, there are privacy and security considerations you should know about. This guide will highlight what ChatGPT is, and what you should and shouldn't do when using it.

What is ChatGPT?

First, let’s explain what ChatGPT is. ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI. It is an advanced artificial intelligence program that is designed to respond to text-based inputs in a way that is natural, human-like, and contextually relevant. To generate a response to a user's input, ChatGPT first analyzes the text to understand its meaning and context. It then uses its learned knowledge of language to generate a response that is relevant to the input. The generated response can be adjusted in length and complexity, depending on the desired level of detail.

ChatGPT has been trained on a diverse range of topics and can generate responses to a wide range of inputs, from simple questions to complex prompts. It is also capable of generating natural language summaries and translations and can even complete tasks such as writing essays or stories. It was trained on an enormous amount of text data from the internet, which allows it to recognize patterns and understand natural language.

What Risks Does ChatGPT Pose?

• Sensitive, personal information may be obtained by unknown individuals should it be entered into ChatGPT.
• In a corporate setting, sensitive confidential company information and internal links can also be obtained by unknown individuals if it is entered into ChatGPT.
• Cybercriminals could leverage ChatGPT to craft far more realistic phishing emails than have been previously used.
• ChatGPT has ethical boundaries in place, however, cybercriminals have been able to bypass these barrier to perform tasks such as coding malicious malware.

While offering responses that are often correct, ChatGPT is not 100% accurate. The chatbot can provide inaccurate results. The data ChatGPT was trained on only went up to December 1st, 2021, meaning some of the results it produces may be outdated.

Best Practices for Using ChatGPT

• Do not enter in any personal or corporate information into ChatGPT. There's always a chance a malicious actor can discover the information and use it to conduct cyber scams and other nefarious actions.
• If you enter a prompt, and are not a subject matter expert on the topic you entered into ChatGPT, take the steps to verify that whatever the chatbot produced is correct.
• Read OpenAI's privacy policy for ChatGPT to learn how your data is collected and used.
• In a corporate setting, consider placing limits on what employees can enter into ChatGPT. Companies such as Amazon, Walmart, Verizon and J.P. Morgan Chase have taken measures to limit, or even outright ban, the use of chatbots to prevent data leaks from occurring.
• Treat ChatGPT as a consultant, or an item in your toolbox, rather than letting it perform all of your tasks, especially in a corporate setting.