Top Three Data Privacy Issues Facing AI Today

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AI (artificial intelligence) has caused frenzied excitement among consumers and businesses alike – driven by a passionate belief that LLMs (large language models) and tools like ChatGPT will transform the way we study, work and live.

But just like in the internet’s early days, users are jumping in without considering how their personal data is used – and the impact this could have on their privacy.

There have already been countless examples of data breaches within the AI space. In March 2023, OpenAI temporarily took ChatGPT offline after a ‘significant’ error meant users were able to see the conversation histories of strangers.

That same bug meant the payment information of subscribers – including names, email addresses and partial credit card numbers – were also in the public domain.

In September 2023, a staggering 38 terabytes of Microsoft data was inadvertently leaked by an employee, with cybersecurity experts warning this could have allowed attackers to infiltrate AI models with malicious code.

Researchers have also been able to manipulate AI systems into disclosing confidential records.

In just a few hours, a group called Robust Intelligence was able to solicit personally identifiable information from Nvidia software and bypass safeguards designed to prevent the system from discussing certain topics.

Lessons were learned in all of these scenarios, but each breach powerfully illustrates the challenges that need to be overcome for AI to become a reliable and trusted force in our lives.

Gemini, Google’s chatbot, even admits that all conversations are processed by human reviewers – underlining the lack of transparency in its system.

“Don’t enter anything that you wouldn’t want to be reviewed or used,” says an alert to users warns.

AI is rapidly moving beyond a tool that students use for their homework or tourists rely on for recommendations during a trip to Rome.

It’s increasingly being depended on for sensitive discussions – and fed everything from medical questions to our work schedules.

Because of this, it’s important to take a step back and reflect on the top three data privacy issues facing AI today, and why they matter to all of us.

1. Prompts aren’t private

Tools like ChatGPT memorize past conversations in order to refer back to them later. While this can improve the user experience and help train LLMs, it comes with risk.

If a system is successfully hacked,…