ChatGPT Was Briefly Restricted To Microsoft Employees Due To Security Concerns

(CTN News) – Microsoft has provided a billion dollars worth of funding to OpenAI to make it possible. There was a brief period of time on Thursday when employees of the startup were unable to use ChatGPT, the company’s most popular product, for a short period of time.

Microsoft announced on its internal website that some AI tools would no longer be available for employees to use due to security and data concerns. Also viewed a screenshot showing that ChatGPT could not be accessed on corporate devices.

A request for comment from Microsoft and OpenAI representatives did not immediately result in a response.

It is true that Microsoft has invested in OpenAI, and ChatGPT features safeguards to prevent improper use, but it is still an external third-party service,” Microsoft said. Because of the privacy and security risks, it is important to exercise caution when using it. Any other external AI services, like Midjourney or Replika, are also subject to the same rule.”

Initially, the company said it was banning ChatGPT and Canva, but later removed this line. The access to ChatGPT was reinstated after the initial publication of this story.

A Microsoft statement quoted by the newspaper stated that the temporary ChatGPT blockage was caused by a test of large language models that had been conducted.

LLM endpoint control systems were accidentally turned on for all employees while testing, according to a spokesperson. “We restored service shortly after identifying our error. In addition to Bing Chat Enterprise and ChatGPT Enterprise, we encourage our customers and employees to use other services with enhanced privacy and security features.”

The use of ChatGPT is often restricted within large companies in order to prevent the sharing of confidential information. In response to people’s chat messages, ChatGPT composes human-like responses based on extensive internet data. With more than 100 million users, the service is very popular.

In the update, Microsoft recommends people use the company’s own Bing Chat tool, which uses OpenAI models for artificial intelligence. Both companies have a close relationship. Additionally, Microsoft has released updates to its Windows operating system and Office applications that utilize OpenAI services, which are run on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform.

OpenAI’s Sam Altman and CEO Satya Nadella appeared onstage at the startup’s first developer conference earlier this week.

The rumors that we are blocking Microsoft 365 in retaliation are completely unfounded, Altman wrote in a post on X late Thursday.

According to Insider, a high-ranking Microsoft engineer wrote in a forum that employees were welcome to use ChatGPT, but he advised against entering confidential information.

Hacking group Anonymous Sudan attacked ChatGPT earlier this week after Altman said he was “willing to invest more into Israel” and was “cooperating with the occupation state of Israel.”

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