ChatGPT and privacy
Privacy and AI
Privacy is one of the most important human rights. It gives the right to individuals to protect their personal life and information from unlawful interference by others, including the government. This right includes various aspects such as the right to protection of personal data, the right to control personal information, and the right to personal autonomy and freedom. However, due to increasing data collection by AI and the growing power of emerging technologies, individuals in both the public and private sectors will increasingly be tracked and monitored, often without enough anonymity or consent.
ChatGPT unethically processes your data
ChatGPT uses large amounts of text data collected from various sources, including public websites and social media While the data is anonymized, there is a chance that sensitive information such as names, locations, and personal opinions could be incorporated. Yes, you read that right, private information made publicly available. As cybersecurity experts, it’s therefore our job to make users aware of the privacy risks associated with the use of AI models such as ChatGPT. But that’s not all… But that’s not all…
Discrimination and racism: AI systems like ChatGPT are filled with biases.
Al machine learning models, including AI models that perform specific tasks, are trained based on datasets, i.e. mountains of data and information on which the model bases its output. It is the only way to get the “intelligence” of an AI as close as possible to that of humans, at least that’s what the researchers of the AI system claim. ChatGPT, for example, is trained with more than 300 billion words, that’s about 570 GB of data. That’s exactly where the problem lies.
When you harvest large, unsorted data sets from the internet, it is inevitable that they’ll contain some form of biased information. This information then influences the models. Even though researchers do use filters to prevent AI-models like ChatGPT from providing false information after collecting data, these filters are not 100% waterproof. This can cause harmful biases, or worse: ChatGPT can generate answers that are plainly racist or discriminatory.
It is also important to point out that the data on which ChatGPT generates responses is outdated. In short, the data does not reflect where society currently stands in its development and progress. And, perhaps the most important: Even the researchers and developers themselves are often biased. This is because the world of tech simply is an extremely homogeneous sector dominated by, yes, none other than ‘white men’.
If we continue to ignore the privacy risks and ethical issues when using ChatGPT, among others, we are contributing to a greater invasion of our own privacy and injustice. It’s important that users take their responsibility and protect their own privacy. In doing so, they should also be aware of the ethical implications when using ChatGPT.
How to protect yourself
If you still want to use ChatGPT, it is essential to acknowledge the limitations of ChatGPT andto take responsibility for the contents that are generated and analysed under the influence of this type of technology. In addition, there are two other important measures that you can take yourself to better guard your privacy:
- 1. Avoid sharing sensitive information with ChatGPT: When getting started in ChatGPT, we recommend that you only share non-sensitive information in the prompts and do not provide any personal information. Do not share any pictures or videos, and certainly no contact details.
- 2. Do not use ChatGPT for processing sensitive information: It is also wise to disregard ChatGPT when you need to process sensitive information, like responding to emails or processing personal data. This will prevent the AI from using your private information for learning purposes and or sharing it with other users.
Remain aware of the privacy risks and take the necessary measures to protect your privacy. Do you want to know more about how to protect your data online? One of our experts will be happy to help you on your way!
