The double-edged sword of generative AI

With various models of generative AI on the market, including Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT or Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) such as DALL-E, it’s becoming embedded into the everyday fabric of work. It may resolve the challenges of slow and costly human processes, transforming the future of work, but there’s always two sides to every coin.

Let’s start by looking at how generative AI is revolutionizing the professional landscape.

AI is unlocking new levels of creativity

With its ability to develop new and original content, generative AI has become an invaluable tool for professionals, enabling and supporting their creativity in unique ways. These trained AI models can learn patterns and insights found in the training data, before generating entirely new content that they’re based on.

Now, the likes of customer service agents or IT specialists can tap into the vast computational capabilities of generative AI as it prompts a worker’s creativity with starter ideas or jumping-off points, let’s say, for a customer reply or new website code.

Revolutionizing customer service

Advancements in Natural Language Generation (NLG) have led to remarkable progress in applications for communications and customer service experiences. NLG technologies focus on generating human-like text, allowing machines to understand and produce language in a way that resembles human conversation.

NLG enables chatbots to provide real-time, contextually relevant responses, enhancing user experiences. It automates content creation, creates opportunities for more personalized and efficient communication and more, all to the benefit of the customer. This form of generative AI pushes automated customer service systems to new heights, even being able to analyze data and troubleshoot problems in real-time.

Boosting efficiency

Generative AI significantly boosts productivity and efficiency as it can automate labor-intensive digital tasks, enabling scalability and optimizing resource allocation. Through trained algorithms, generative AI can take on tasks like data analysis, code development, data generation and other time-consuming processes, freeing up valuable time for workers, creating a more efficient workflow.

The ability to scale content or data generation and analysis efficiently helps businesses meet growing demands without compromising quality or incurring additional costs, leading to better resource allocation. And with that, generative AI can propel businesses to streamline operations, reduce costs and maximize productivity.

Ethical considerations of generative AI

The other side of the coin, however, is not as appealing.

Yet, it’s crucial to address the ethical concerns surrounding generative AI, given the potential implications it has on the likes of intellectual property rights, plagiarism and the spread of misinformation.

Generative AI raises questions about ownership and attribution. The datasets it learns from draw from content found on the internet, such as thought leadership pieces or blogs, often copying them directly, intensifying the debate of ownership of the generated content.

Determining who holds the rights to content created by AI systems can be complex. But with the speed at which generative AI has been adopted, the likes of ChatGPT and other LLMs may have already jumped the gun of regulatory restrictions. Therefore, we may require a reevaluation of existing legal frameworks and outline clear guidelines that establish the rights and responsibilities of creators, users and AI systems in the context of generative AI.

Machine ethics

Generative AI models may seem like it’s human, but it’s not.

It doesn’t have thoughts or feelings or even sentience like we do. It works solely based on the information it learned and provides responses accordingly. But crucially, generative AI models don’t have the ability to know if the information it provides is true or false – it’s only what it’s learned. This content may contain falsities, be misleading or, in the case of computer code, be poorly formed or incomplete.

Essentially, you are depending on a machine to provide you with accurate answers simply because it appears to be an adept copywriter – without making sure those answers are correct. So, it’s important for humans to check the output of these AI systems to make sure they’re accurate and reliable. Sometimes, businesses may use it without double-checking the output, which can lead to mistakes or wrong information.

While we all can make mistakes too, it’s important to be careful and not solely rely on AI, quality checking the output before doing anything with it.

Data and its security implications

As mentioned, generative AI models require vast amounts of data for training, often including sensitive information. Users can also generate content that may contain confidential, proprietary or sensitive information. All this raises concerns about data privacy and how the information is stored. If not properly handled, this data could be inadvertently exposed during the training process, leading to potential privacy breaches.

There’s also instances where models, like ChatGPT, automatically opt users into the collection of their IP addresses, browser types and settings, using cookies to collect a user’s browsing activities over time too[i]. All of this could be exposed without notice to vendors and third parties. But questions are also raised about how that data is stored and how vulnerable it may be to breaches, as it’s often stored in public clouds too.

But that’s not the only concern around data. If it contains biases or reflects societal prejudices, the generated content can perpetuate or amplify it.

Manipulating generative AI

Whilst concerns around data security and privacy are one thing, generative AI also presents the potential for more damning applications, such as the manipulation of information. It can be exploited for the likes of financial fraud or cybersecurity attacks. But it poses another threat too – deepfakes.

Individuals’ faces and voices can be convincingly manipulated through learning algorithms to create deceptive videos or audio recordings. Deepfake media can be used to spread misinformation, defame individuals, blackmail users or simply manipulate public opinion. All of which raises serious concerns.

Striking the right balance

Ultimately, developers bear the responsibility of creating generative AI systems that are designed ethically and adhere to current guidelines as well as adapt to those evolving alongside the technology.

To strike a balance between the immense potential of generative AI and the need for ethical guidelines, it’s crucial to employ strategies that foster responsible innovation. We need AI experts and governments to develop comprehensive guidelines that keep users and their data safe, with stringent data protection regulations and encryption techniques to preserve data security.

As well as this, we need businesses and individuals to fully consider the limitations and potential problems with AI tools. Sometimes, businesses may feel pressured to use AI tools and conform, simply because everyone else is using them and they don’t want to be left behind, harkening back to the age-old saying, “If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you?”.

It’s, therefore, crucial to ensure these systems are developed and deployed responsibly, with adequate safeguards against misuse, ensuring proper quality for future AI models to learn from. More importantly, we also need robust and transparent algorithms with measures to address biases, avoid harmful outputs and implement rigorous data security protocols.

Promoting education and learning around generative AI, as well as updating regulations to accommodate technological developments and taking responsibility and implementing their own quality control, all contribute to finding the right balance in how generative AI is used.

Use generative AI the right way

We’re here to help guide your business in establishing generative AI the right way. At Tquila, our professional expertise and tailored solutions ensure responsible implementation whilst unlocking the sheer potential of generative AI.

Contact us today to explore how Tquila Automation can support your generative AI journey.

[i] https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2023/05/01/how-generative-ai-can-affect-your-business-data-privacy/