According to a report by CNBC, Microsoft recently restricted the use of ChatGPT among its employees citing “security and data concerns.” This restriction was communicated through an internal announcement, which also extended to prohibiting access to the AI bot on company devices. This decision by Microsoft raised eyebrows, especially considering its significant investment in OpenAI, the organization behind ChatGPT.
Microsoft’s commitment to invest \(10 billion in the development of ChatGPT over the next few years, following a previous \)3 billion contribution, underscores the company’s strategic focus on AI technologies. ChatGPT, an AI tool integrated into Microsoft’s products like Bing, leverages OpenAI’s advanced language model. Despite the built-in safeguards to prevent misuse, Microsoft emphasized that ChatGPT is a third-party service, urging caution among its employees.
The abrupt ban on ChatGPT was short-lived, as Microsoft promptly reinstated access following the initial restriction. Subsequently, reports indicated that the company also clarified that the block extended to the Canva chat app and design software, not just ChatGPT. A Microsoft spokesperson acknowledged the oversight, attributing it to a misconfiguration during testing for Language Model systems. The spokesperson reassured that Microsoft prioritizes services with enhanced privacy and security features, such as Bing Chat Enterprise and ChatGPT Enterprise.
