Aided fraud – Who will bell the AI and ChatGPT cat?

My excitement about artificial intelligence (AI) in business has been tempered by the testimony of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman before the United States Congress on May 16, 2023, about the possibilities of perils of artificial intelligence. 

He pointed out the upsides with the understanding that it must be managed if fraud, or occurrences by any other name in businesses are to be prevented. Despite policies, the ability of AI ChatGPT should be of concern to business corporations.

The human element cannot be ignored as it is a person who invariably commits fraud. Imagine an employee decides to use AI ChatGPT’s “ability to generate convincing answers to almost any question” to his/her advantage in a business. Does the board, chairman or the CEO have any control over this? It’s too late until the damage is done. The thought of cloning management is frightening.

How can management get out in front of such possibilities is a matter of urgency.

In embracing AI, I am not too concerned about the impact on employment productivity, loss of jobs etc. I am more concerned about the downsides such as fraud, reputational damage, and interference with intellectual property.

Already, a colleague brought to my attention the personal misinformation about me on ChatGPT, and I quote; “she served as CEO of MMS for over two decades before stepping down from the role in 2017”. 

Of course, it is well known that I passed the baton on March 27, 2023.

However, in a subsequent posting it states, “as an AI language model, I do not have access to real-time information and news. As my knowledge cut/off is September 2021. I do not have information on Audrey Hinchcliffe’s retirement on March 27, 2023”.

It goes on to say; “if this information is accurate, it would mean that Audrey Hinchcliffe retired in the future, which is not possible”.

Now as a researcher on Audrey Hinchcliffe, ChatGPT would not only have caused confusion, but distorted your research outcome. This is dangerous. Therefore, may I suggest that my business and professional colleagues check out what is being said about them. Already there are reports of individuals suffering personal and  business damage caused by ChatGPT.

While we all jump on the bandwagon of AI, where is the conversation on legal and regulatory framework or guidelines on the use of AI, Chat GPT or any other  of these platforms? At the business level, I would like to be directed to the crafting of policy guidelines and guardrails to protect not only business operations, but people, process, and products.

Note with interest that developers such as Sam Altman, CEO of Open AI ChatGPT, and Dr. Jeffrey Hinton, known as the  “the godfather of AI”, quit his job and is warning about the growing damage from developments in the field. He warns of bad actors seeking to gain power. So why wouldn’t employees see the dangers too?

I declare, I am scared of the unknown but perhaps being scared will spur me into action although I am technologically challenged – so over to those who know to lead the way. This call therefore is for policy makers and savvy business leaders to bell the AI ChatGPT cat.

Other matters

This is the fifth and final article on fraud. The intent of this body of work is to stimulate conversation on how businesses and institutions can come together to develop policies to address the developments besetting a wide cross-section of entities. I urge your support when a mechanism for the conversation is announced.

Thanks for the positive feedback on the articles from a wide cross-section of readers.

Audrey Stewart-Hinchcliffe is founder and chairperson of Manpower and Maintenance Services Group Limited.