Is Your AI Use Creating Data Leakage Problems for Your Business?

With the new year fast approaching, it’s worth thinking about how your organization can be more future-minded. This involves considering artificial intelligence, or AI, as a means to accomplish more for your business. Of course, you also need to be careful about what data you provide AI with, as it can easily snowball out of control if you’re not careful with your approach.

AI Is a Machine, Not a Coworker

AI is not a friend or a personal assistant. At its core, AI is a tool that can help you identify patterns and extract data from the Internet. This means that it’s only effective if you provide it with enough input to come to solid conclusions.

Of course, anything you enter into AI programs is going to get added into the mix, too, all with the intention of providing you better outputs… but this is a problem for several reasons.

Why Is AI Having More of My Business’ Information Bad?

Unfortunately, there are two big issues that impact how useful AI can be:

Lack of Information Credibility

The Internet is full of misinformation, half-truths, and flat-out lies that people leverage all the time, and this further complicates the challenge of using AI well.

It’s not uncommon for people to fall for even the silliest hoaxes on the Internet, regardless of how outlandish they might seem. AI doesn’t really help, as it wants to provide you what you’re looking for and doesn’t check the legitimacy of information it discovers.

This is why it’s important to take any advice or information it offers with a grain of salt.

Lack of Confidentiality

While public AI can be great for certain tasks, that word public creates some hairy situations, particularly where confidential information is concerned.

If you upload something to public AI platforms, the program will take what you’ve offered and add it to its ever-growing database. Imagine how catastrophic it would be to upload your business strategies, or worse yet, any personally identifiable information related to your employees or your clients.

Sure, you might have gotten a social media strategy for your next product launch and perhaps some organized spreadsheets, but you’re sacrificing something so much more precious in the process: your business’ integrity.

How to Maintain Control When Using AI

Your first instinct might be to avoid AI, but the truth is, there are smart ways to use it—and businesses that want to stay competitive are figuring this out every day. Here are some steps you can take when using AI that guarantee you keep control of your data:

• Step 1: Classification - First, you need to figure out which data you don’t want in any AI system, as well as what’s already publicly available.
• Step 2: Usage Policy - Once you’ve classified data accordingly, you can turn this into an official company policy that guides how your team uses data with AI. Make sure you give your team the flexibility to experiment, though (as long as it’s safe to do so).
• Step 3: Private Alternatives - Private AI systems that are owned and operated by your organization are the ideal solution. They will let you use these tools to great effect and give you a leg up on the competition.

We’ll Help You Stop Your Leakage Problems

AI isn’t going away, so you might as well embrace it and take full advantage of it where you can. Suffolk Computer Consultants can help in these efforts. To learn more, call us at 631-905-9617.