November 28, 2024

Microsoft: Microsoft stopped employees from using ChatGPT for a short while, here’s why

[ad_1]

It is being dubbed as the ‘shrewdest’ billion dollars Microsoft will ever spent. We are talking about the initial $1 billion investment Microsoft made in OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. That was in 2019. Since then ChatGPThas exploded, Microsoft has invested at least another $10 billion and the two companies are benefitting mutually. Yet, there was a brief period recently when Microsoft ‘banned’ employees from using ChatGPT.According to a report by CNBC, employees were restricted from using ChatGPT.
The report cites an update Microsoft put on its internal website where the company noted, “Due to security and data concerns a number of AI tools are no longer available for employees to use.”
Microsoft urged employees to use ‘third-party’ websites — including ChatGPT — with caution. “While it is true that Microsoft has invested in OpenAI, and that ChatGPT has built-in safeguards to prevent improper use, the website is nevertheless a third-party external service,” Microsoft said. “That means you must exercise caution using it due to risks of privacy and security. This goes for any other external AI services, such as Midjourney or Replika, as well.”
It was a ‘mistake’: Microsoft
However, Microsoft later changed its tune and in a statement to CNBC said that the restriction happened by mistake. “We were testing endpoint control systems for LLMs and inadvertently turned them on for all employees,” a spokesperson told CNBC. “We restored service shortly after we identified our error. As we have said previously, we encourage employees and customers to use services like Bing Chat Enterprise and ChatGPT Enterprise that come with greater levels of privacy and security protections.”
Soon after the ‘mistake’, rumours began to circulate that OpenAI had retaliated and banned Microsoft 365. However, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman took to X and quashed those rumours. “The rumours that we are blocking microsoft 365 in retaliation are completely unfounded,” he said in a post on X.



[ad_2]

Source link