Recent reports published by Deloitte and Deloitte Consulting, highlighting the significance of data privacy as it pertains to Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), have been widely cited. As the survey found, there has been a significant increase in professionals' concerns about data privacy; only 22% ranked it as their top concern at the beginning of 2023, and the number will rise to 72% by the end of 2024.
Technology is advancing at an exponential rate, and as a result, there is a growing awareness of its potential risks.
There has been a surge in concerns over data privacy caused by generative AI across several industries, according to a new report by Deloitte. Only 22% of professionals ranked it as among their top three concerns last year, these numbers have risen to 72% this year, according to a recent study.
There was also strong concern regarding data provenance and transparency among professionals, with 47% and 40% informing us that they considered them to be among their top three ethical GenAI concerns for this year, respectively. The proportion of respondents concerned about job displacement, however, was only 16%.
It is becoming increasingly common for staff to be curious about how AI technology operates, especially when it comes to sensitive data.
Almost half of security professionals surveyed by HackerOne in September believe AI is risky, with many of them believing leaks of training data threaten their networks' security.
It is noteworthy that 78% of business leaders ranked "safe and secure" as one of their top three ethical technology principles. This represents a 37% increase from the year 2023, which shows the importance of security to businesses today.
As a result of Deloitte's 2024 "State of Ethics and Trust in Technology " report, the results of the survey were reported in a report which surveyed over 1,800 business and technical professionals worldwide, asking them to rate the ethical principles that they apply to technological processes and, specifically, to their use of GenAI.
It is becoming increasingly important for technological leaders to carefully examine the talent needs of their organizations, as they assist in guiding the adoption of generative AI. There are also ethical considerations that should be included on this checklist as well.
A Deloitte report highlights the effectiveness of GenAI in eliminating the "expertise barrier": more people will be able to make more use of their data more happily and cost-effectively, according to Sachin Kulkarni, managing director, of risk and brand protection, at Deloitte. There may be a benefit to this, though as a result there may be an increased risk of data leaks as a result of this action."
Furthermore, there has been concern expressed about the effects of generative AI on transparency, data provenance, intellectual property ownership, and hallucinations among professionals. Even though job displacement is often listed as a top concern by respondents, only 16% of those asked are reporting job displacement to be true.
As a result of the assessment of emerging technology categories, business and IT professionals have concluded that cognitive technologies, which include large language models, artificial intelligence, neural networks, and generative AI, among others, pose the greatest ethical challenges.
This category had a significant achievement over other technology verticals, including virtual reality, autonomous vehicles, and robotics. However, respondents stated that they considered cognitive technologies to be the most likely to bring about social good in the future.
Flexential's survey published earlier this month found that several executives, in light of the huge reliance on data, are concerned about how generative AI tools can increase cybersecurity risks by extending their attack surface as a result, according to the report.
In Deloitte's annual report, however, the percentage of professionals reporting that they use GenAI internally grew by 20% between last year and this year, reflecting an increase in the use of GenAI by their employees over the previous year.
94% of the respondents said they had incorporated it into their organization's processes in some way or another. Nevertheless, most respondents indicated that these technologies are either still in the pilot phase or are limited in their usage, with only 12% saying that they are used extensively.
Gartner research published last year also found that about 80% of GenAI projects fail to make it past proof-of-concept as a result of a lack of resources.
Europe has been impacted by the recent EU Artificial Intelligence Act and 34% of European respondents have reported that their organizations have taken action over the past year to change their use of AI to adapt to the Act's requirements.
According to the survey results, however, the impact of the Act is more widespread, with 26% of respondents from the South Asian region changing their lifestyles because of it, and 16% of those from the North and South American regions did the same.
The survey also revealed that 20 per cent of respondents based in the U.S. had altered the way their organization was operating as a result of the executive order. According to the survey, 25% of South Asians, 21% of South Americans, and 12% of Europeans surveyed had the same perspective.
The report explains that "Cognitive technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) have the potential to provide society with the greatest benefits, but are also the most vulnerable to misuse," according to its authors.
The accelerated adoption of GenAI technology is overtaking the capacity of organizations to effectively govern it at a rapid pace. GenAI tools can provide a great deal of help to businesses in a range of areas, from choosing which use cases to apply them to quality assurance, to implementing ethical standards.
Companies should prioritize both of these areas."
Despite artificial intelligence being widely used, policymakers want to make sure that they won't get themselves into trouble with its use, especially when it comes to legislation because any use of it can lead to a lot of problems. 34% of respondents reported that regulatory compliance was their most important reason for implementing ethics policies and guidelines to comply with regulations, while regulatory penalties topped the list of concerns about not complying with such policies and guidelines.
A new piece of legislation in the EU, known as the Artificial Intelligence Act, entered into force on August 1. The Act, which takes effect today, is intended to ensure that artificial intelligence systems that are used in high-risk environments are safe, transparent, and ethical. If a company does not comply with the regulations, it could face financial penalties ranging from €35 million ($38 million), which is equivalent to 7% of global turnover, to €7.5 million ($8.1 million), which is equivalent to 1.5% of global turnover.
Over a hundred companies have already signed the EU Artificial Intelligence Pact, with Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI among them; they have also volunteered to begin implementing the requirements of the bill before any deadlines established by law. Both of these actions demonstrate that they are committed to the responsible implementation of artificial intelligence in society, and also help them to avoid future legal challenges in the future.
The United States released a similar executive order in October 2023 with broad guidelines regarding the protection and enhancement of military, civil, and personal privacy as well as protecting the security of government agencies while fostering AI innovation and competition across the entire country. Even though this is not a law, many companies operating in the U.S. have made policy changes to ensure compliance with regulatory changes and comply with public expectations regarding the privacy and security of AI.
