Incorporate AI into your work environment safely with these 5 ways.

Many businesses have embraced artificial intelligence (AI) because it can help employees with everything from handling mundane tasks to performing complex operations and generating new ideas. However, businesses should be mindful of safety considerations when incorporating these tools into their workflows.

Data breaches, public exposure of sensitive business information, critical errors, and reputational harm are among the risks of an AI lapse. Let’s take a look at five popular AI use cases that your business may want to consider and the safety measures that can help ensure the safe use of AI tools.

1. Adopt AI Chatbots

AI chatbots can provide information or customer service through text-based interfaces on websites, messaging apps, and other touch points. These chatbots use machine learning algorithms and natural language processing to understand queries and provide accurate, human-like responses.

AI chatbots learn from each interaction with human and perfect their performance over time. AI chatbot software also provides a “backdoor” for hackers to access a business’s data or network. Unencrypted chatbot communications, insufficient employee cybersecurity training, and exploitable entry points on third-party hosting platforms are among the common vulnerabilities that an organization should address when adopting an AI chatbot.

 2. Employ AI Virtual Assistants

Consumers have been using Alexa, Siri, and other AI virtual assistant tools for years, and many businesses are adopting them as time savers. A virtual assistant is an app that understands natural language voice commands and completes tasks for the user.

In a business setting, a virtual assistant can:

  • take dictation
  • read email messages and other texts aloud
  • provide meeting reminders
  • perform other useful tasks

Because AI virtual assistants listen, gather, and store information about users, they pose significant privacy concerns. When using them in a business environment, be sure to set controls to limit data sharing and avoid giving a virtual assistant access to sensitive business information.

3. Use AI to Create Content

AI can help, whether your task is to:

  • edit or format existing text or to create new technical documentation,
  • product descriptions
  • client communications
  • marketing content

Rather than having employees draft copy from scratch, they can input information into an AI writing tool. AI writing software uses machine learning algorithms and natural language processing to generate text.  AI writing tools aren’t perfect, so a human will still need to review the AI drafts to check language usage and ensure factual correctness, but these tools can significantly boost efficiency. Also, employers should establish security protocols to ensure employees don’t unintentionally expose sensitive business information when using these tools.

4. Leverage AI As a Test Platform

AI has become particularly useful in business environments by enabling businesses to generate both simple and complex simulations quickly and efficiently. Employees can easily change variables and parameters when running multiple simulations in a very wide range of scenarios to test ideas or assess various outcomes in applications from staff management and spreadsheet formulas to complex lab environments.

When using AI for testing, it’s essential to protect proprietary business information by removing unnecessary data from datasets before using them in AI algorithms. This best practice helps prevent the unintended sharing or misuse of sensitive business data.

 5. Expand Data Analytics and Business Intelligence with AI

AI’s biggest impact on business to date may be in the field of analytics. The use of machine learning techniques to identify and interpret data patterns is helping businesses in many industries find new data patterns, gain insights, and make predictions – all of which lead to better data-driven business decisions. AI has exponentially boosted the speed, range, and granularity of data analytics.

Data security concerns are increasing as business data expands in volume and grows in complexity, increasing the cybersecurity threat surface. To use AI-augmented data analytics safely, organizations should assess their AI usage and service providers to ensure security best practices are in place to protect sensitive business data.

Put Safety First

Businesses should maintain a safety-first approach when adopting new AI technologies. No matter which type of AI tool you want to incorporate into your workflows, it’s helpful to keep two universal AI best practices in mind.

First, any AI tool is only as good as the dataset it works with. Because internet-facing tools are notoriously inaccurate, it’s vital to use AI within the framework of a secure, trusted, and filtered dataset. Second, it’s essential not to abandon human intelligence and judgment. A qualified employee should be entrusted to make any final decision before a definitive business action is taken based on the work of an AI tool.

Ensuring network and data security when adopting AI tools can be a challenge. For a free network security assessment to help you better protect your business from the risks posed by using AI technologies, contact us today.