Artificial intelligence (AI) is a buzz word in most industries, not least in marketing. While many see AI as a tool and an opportunity for efficiency, there are a large number of individuals who are sceptical of the new technology. There has been, and still is, a big debate about how we should approach AI. A debate that divides the world into two parts. On one side are those who think artificial intelligence should be regulated, and on the other side are those who see potential in the technology and are curious about a future with a more present AI. Whichever side you and your company choose, there are benefits to developing an AI policy that employees can follow. This article addresses just that – what an AI policy is and why your company needs one.
What is an AI policy?
An AI policy is a set of guidelines and rules that a company puts in place to ensure the ethical and responsible use of the technology. An AI policy can be seen as a compass that guides your business through the use of AI. While ensuring compliance with ethics, laws and core values.
Risks of generative AI
The emergence of AI has been rapid and the availability of tools with integrated AI is increasing. This increases the likelihood that your employees will use AI in their daily tasks to make their daily work more efficient. An AI use policy may therefore be just what your company needs to protect you from potential risks.
There are risks in feeding information to AI just as there are risks in receiving information from AI. In recent years, we have seen a number of “scandals” involving AI. For example, let’s not forget when a Samsung employee accidentally uploaded secret information to ChatGPT. By doing so, the information did not become secret anymore, as AI trains on the information available on the internet that it is given. There is also strong criticism of OpenAI, the company that created ChatGPT, for training its AI on copyrighted content. The New York Times sued OpenAI in December 2023 because millions of their articles were used to train chatbots that now compete with them.
We don’t yet know the full implications of generative AI. That’s why it’s important to educate your employees about the risks of AI and be clear about what information cannot be shared. If your company holds confidential information, there is value in writing an AI policy.
There are also risks in receiving information from AI tools if they are used without checking for accuracy or plagiarism. To get a deeper understanding of the issue, it is important to understand how generative AI tools work. These tools are often trained on publicly available content on the internet, including books, theses and artworks. In some cases, this means that the tool has gained access to data that is protected or from potentially illegal sources on the dark web. These AI models generate content by analysing patterns in the huge amount of data they consume daily. This significantly reduces the risk of originality.
Therefore, it is important to always read and fact-check the data produced by generative AI. If your company fails to detect plagiarism, for example, it can pose a huge risk to your brand’s reputation. It can also lead to legal consequences. Furthermore, there is something in AI called ‘hallucinations’ – where ChatGPT, powered by a large language model, for example, hallucinates and makes up facts. You may have experienced this yourself already: you type a simple prompt and get a good answer, but the more questions you ask, the more the chatbot suddenly makes up. Sometimes it happens very stealthily, in the middle of a sentence – so it’s important to double-check everything you write!
The difference between AI policy and AI guidelines
Depending on how your company views the emergence of AI technology and what industry your company is in, it may be beneficial to take a closer look at AI guidelines instead of a usage policy. The difference between a policy and guidelines is that a policy is usually an official document that explains the company’s position regarding something. In this case, the attitude could be, for example, that your company does not use AI to generate content. But it could also be that you partially use AI to generate content.
If the industry in which your company operates does not necessarily have a clear position on the use of AI, it may be interesting to look at internal guidelines instead. With the help of internal guidelines, your employees can look at AI with the same eyes and relate to the technology in an equal way without having an official policy.
In conclusion
Being afraid of AI is not a solution. But it is important to recognise and understand the risks in order to avoid them. AI is an amazing tool if used properly, and to do so, information and training on how to do so is needed. No matter what industry your company is in, we believe that now is the time to create an AI policy or guidelines. That way, you can guide your employees on how to safely use AI tools in their daily work to make tasks more efficient. Avoid crazy missteps and benefit from the rise of AI tools on your terms.
As a content agency, we at Strong Contents take great care to ensure that all the content we publish is produced by a human. We always review our content and only use AI tools as tools. They cannot replace us in researching, writing and editing data and information. To see our AI policy, click here.
Disclaimer:
The information in this article is not intended to constitute formal legal advice. This article and its information is intended to provide general information. Readers of this article should contact their legal team or attorney for advice with respect to a particular legal issue. Readers should refrain from acting on information about this article without first seeking independent legal advice.
Sources:
https://grown.se/ai-policy-riktlinjer/
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/27/business/media/new-york-times-open-ai-microsoft-lawsuit.html
