Employees who secretly use ChatGPT at work – 11/04/2023 – Tech

Since OpenAI launched ChatGPT, a virtual robot (chatbot) that answers a variety of questions, in November 2022, companies have struggled to keep the use of the tool under control in the workplace.

Many companies are worried about their data leaking — not only unintentionally training OpenAI algorithms with sensitive information, but also potentially revealing corporate secrets to competitors’ requests, says Simon Johnson, head of the global economics and management group at the MIT Sloan School of Science. Management, in Massachusetts, in the United States.

However, many workers love technology and have come to access and even depend on it.

“These are practical tools that make life easier, like content aggregation. Instead of searching through multiple sources to find an obscure organizational policy, ChatGPT can provide a useful first draft in an instant,” says Bryan Hancock, partner at McKinsey & Co, based in Washington.

“They can also help with technical tasks like coding and perform routine tasks that ease employees’ cognitive load and schedules.”

Business consultant Matt and his colleague were the first at their workplace to discover ChatGPT, just weeks after its launch. He says the chatbot transformed his workdays overnight. “It was like discovering a video game trick,” says Matt, who lives in Berlin.

“I asked a really technical question from my PhD thesis and he provided an answer that no one would be able to find without consulting people with very specific expertise. I knew it would be a game changer.”

Everyday tasks in your fast-paced work environment—like researching scientific topics, gathering sources, and producing comprehensive presentations for clients—suddenly became a breeze.

The only problem: Matt and his colleague had to keep their use of ChatGPT a closely guarded secret. They accessed the tool secretly, especially on work-from-home days.

“We had a significant competitive advantage over our colleagues – our production was much faster and they couldn’t understand how. Our manager was very impressed and spoke about our performance with senior management,” he says.

Whether the technology is explicitly prohibited, highly frowned upon, or gives some workers a secret advantage, some employees are looking for ways to continue using generative AI tools discreetly.

Technology is increasingly becoming a feedback channel for employees: in a February 2023 study by professional social network Fishbowl, 68% of 5,067 respondents who used AI at work said they do not disclose its use to their bosses.

Even in cases without workplace bans, employees may still want to keep their use of AI hidden, or at least protected, from colleagues.

“We don’t yet have established norms around AI – initially, it might feel like you’re admitting that you’re not that good at your job if the machine is doing many of your tasks,” says Johnson. “It’s natural for people to want to hide it.”

As a result, forums are emerging for workers to exchange strategies for keeping a low profile.

In communities like Reddit, many people look for methods to secretly bypass workplace bans, whether through high-tech solutions (integrating ChatGPT into an app disguised as a workplace tool) or rudimentary solutions to obscure the use (adding a privacy screen or discreetly accessing technology on your cell phone).

And a growing number of workers who have come to rely on AI may have to start looking for ways to maintain use. According to an August 2023 BlackBerry survey of 2,000 global information technology decision makers, 75% are currently considering or implementing bans on ChatGPT and other generative AI applications in the workplace, with 61% stating that measures must be long-term or permanent.

While these bans can help companies keep sensitive information out of the wrong hands, Hancock says keeping generative AI away from workers, especially in the long term, could backfire.

“AI tools are poised to become part of the employee experience, so restricting access to them without providing insight into when and how they will be adopted – such as after the introduction of guardrails – can create frustration,” he says .

“And that might lead people to think about working somewhere with access to the tools they need.”

As for Matt, he found a workaround to stay one step ahead: he and his colleague began secretly using the search platform Perplexity.

Like ChatGPT, it’s a generative AI tool that returns complex written responses to basic requests in an instant.

Matt likes Perplexity even better than ChatGPT: it presents real-time information and cites sources that can be quickly verified, ideal when your presentations require in-depth, up-to-date knowledge.

He checks it hundreds of times a day on his work laptop, often when working from home, and uses it more than Google.

Matt hopes he can continue using his latest AI tool in secret for as long as possible.

For him, it’s worth the small inconvenience of occasionally having to dim his laptop screen in the office and not sharing resources with his team. “I prefer to maintain the competitive advantage,” he says.

This text was originally published here.