Google has a new AI framework with an eye to security, which pushes six core ideas:
- Assess what existing security controls can be easily extended to new AI systems, such as data encryption.
- Expand existing threat intelligence research to also include specific threats targeting AI systems.
- Adopt automation into the company’s cyber defenses to quickly respond to any anomalous activity targeting AI systems.
- Conduct regular reviews of the security measures in place around AI models.
- Constantly test the security of these AI systems through so-called penetration tests and make changes based on those findings.
- And, lastly, build a team that understands AI-related risks to help figure out where AI risk should sit in an organization’s overall strategy to mitigate business risks.
Microsoft has their new “customer commitments,” announced on Thursday.
- Sharing our learnings about developing and deploying AI responsibly
- Creating an AI Assurance Program, and
- Supporting you as you implement your own AI systems responsibly.
OpenAI has been sued in what looks to be the first defamation lawsuit regarding false information. A radio host in Georgia, Mark Walters, is suing the company after ChatGPT stated that Walters had been accused of defrauding and embezzling funds from a non-profit organization. The system generated the information in response to a request from a third party, a journalist named Fred Riehl. Walters’ case was filed on June 5th in Georgia’s Superior Court of Gwinnett County, and he is seeking unspecified monetary damages from OpenAI.
Adobe and Microsoft have separately announced that they will help protect users of their generative AI products from legal challenges. Adobe’s approach is full indemnification for the content created through” its generative AI capabilities in Adobe Firefly. Microsoft s instituting an AI Assurance Program to help ensure that the AI applications its customers deploy on its platforms meet the legal and regulatory requirements for responsible AI.
Microsoft, meanwhile, is bringing Voice mode to Edge on the desktop, allowing users to ask Bing’s chatbot questions via voice and get responses in the chatbot’s voice.
And, a 2023 G2 Software Buyer Behavior Report says products with artificial intelligence functionality — particularly large language models — are among the top three fastest-growing software classes across the over 2,000 categories the company tracks. G2’s study suggests businesses are increasing their software spend as they vie for advantages, fears of a tech pullback notwithstanding. Forty-nine percent of buyers polled said they would increase software spending this year, while only 9% said they would tighten their purse strings for software.
81% of respondents put a premium on software having AI functionality. Fewer than 5% of the executives G2 polled said AI functionality is not important at all.
Additionally:
- Eighty-four percent of buyers said they trust or “trust strongly” the reliability and accuracy of AI-powered solutions.
- Eighty-eight percent said it was important that AI functionality be a component of any software they buy going forward.
Why do we care?
I recorded an interview on Friday for the All Things MSP podcast, coming out soon, and was asked about frameworks for AI. My response was that providers should leverage the extensive work being done by the big players, such as Microsoft and Google, as well as the work being done by the White House, Pentagon, and NIST. It’s there for the taking, and more important, implementing.
The elusive voice interface. I’m convinced it’s a thing and that I just got the timeline wrong, and maybe we’re about to see generative AI and voice converge. Microsoft’s shot across the bow of putting this voice into both Edge and upcoming in Windows should tell you that it’s coming. Google and Amazon will respond.
Finally, note the combination of legal protection with product. This paralells what we’ve been seeing in security, and for good reason. There’s a lot of unknown to protect against. The key value is connecting customer needs to technology.. .and protection.