Report suggests workers are sharing too much info with AI such as ChatGPT and other generative AI platforms. This means that these days, workers are ready to spill more and more secrets to AI than to their friends.
Workers Sharing Too Much With AI
Workers are very much likely to share company secrets of a workplace AI tool and service rather than their friends, a new report has now claimed.
In a study of more than 1,000 office employees from both the US and the UK, data analytics firm CybSafe found out that many are positive about generative AI tools, so much so that a third of workers in both the US and UK admitted that they would probably continue making use of them even if they get banned by their company.
69% of all respondents in the study also stated that the benefits of such tools outweigh their security risks. US workers were the most sanguine during the study, as 74% of them all agreed with this statement.
The Result of the Study
Half of all respondents during the study reported making use of AI at their work, with a third in question making use of it weekly and 12% on the other hand on a daily. When it comes to workers in the US, the most common use cases are inclusive of research, copywriting as well as data analysis, which are all closely tied at 44%, 40%, and 38% respectively. The services of AI tools were also employed for other tasks, like helping with customer service (24%) and then code writing (15%).
CybSafe however believes that this is quite a cause for concern, as the agency claims that businesses are not alerting their employees properly to the dangers that are posed by making use of the services of such tools.
In the agency’s report, CybSafe comments that “as AI cyber threats rise, businesses are in danger. From phishing scams to accidental data leaks, employees need to be informed, guided, and supported.”
How AI Has Affected Workplaces
A worrying 64% of workers in the US have entered information that is pertaining to their work into generative AI tools, and 28% on the other hand weren’t sure if they had. CybSasfe furthermore claims that a vast 93% of workers are sharing confidential information with AI potentially. And the icing on the cake here is that 38% of workers in the US admit to sharing data with AI that they wouldn’t “in a bar to a friend.”
“The emerging changes in employee behavior also need to be considered,” Dr Jason Nurse, CybSafe’s director of science and research and current associate professor at the University of Kent states.
“If employees are entering sensitive data sometimes on a daily basis, this can lead to data leaks. Our behavior at work is shifting, and we are increasingly relying on Generative AI tools. Understanding and managing this change is crucial.”
The Negative Impact of the Use of AI
Another problem from a cybersecurity perspective is the inability of workers to distinguish between content that is created by a human or an AI. 60% of all those that were surveyed said that they were confident in the sense that they could do so accurately.
“We’re seeing cybercrime barriers crumble, as AI crafts ever more convincing phishing lures,” Nurse added. “The line between real and fake is blurring, and without immediate action, companies will face unprecedented cybersecurity risks.”
These very concerns in question are amplified given the fact that the uptake of AI at work is increasing at a very fast pace. A new report by McKinsey, a management consulting firm has labeled 2023 the breakout year for AI, with close to 80% in its survey claiming to have had at least some exposure to the technology at home or at their workplace.
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