Workflow management software provider ServiceNow has embedded a chatbot for assisting customers with most of its products.
ServiceNow’s new Now Assist tool is an expansion to its AI-powered Now Platform, and is available in its Vancouver software release for IT Service Management (ITSM), Customer Service Management (CSM), HR Service Delivery (HRSD), and Creator workflow application.
As a large number of companies continue to test and deploy generative artificial intelligence (genAI) tools, many are at risk of AI errors, malicious attacks, and running afoul of regulators — not to mention the potential exposure of sensitive data.
For example, in April, after Samsung’s semiconductor division allowed engineers to use ChatGPT, workers using the platform leaked trade secrets on least three instances, according to published accounts. One employee pasted confidential source code into the chat to check for errors, while another worker shared code with ChatGPT and “requested code optimization.”
Artificial intelligence (AI) is already having a significant effect on businesses and organizations across a variety of industries, even as many businesses are still just kicking the tires on the technology.
Those that have fully adopted AI claim a 35% increase in innovation and a 33% increase in sustainability over the past three years, according to research firm IDC. Customer and employee retention has also been reported as improving by 32% after investing in AI.
Ever since generative AI exploded into public consciousness with the launch of ChatGPT at the end of last year, calls to regulate the technology to stop it from causing undue harm have risen to fever pitch around the world. The stakes are high — just last week, technology leaders signed an open public letter saying that if government officials get it wrong, the consequence could be the extinction of the human race.
Hundreds of tech industry leaders, academics, and others public figures signed an open letter warning that artificial intelligence (AI) evolution could lead to an extinction event and saying that controlling the tech should be a top global priority.
“Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war,” read the statement published by San Francisco-based Center for AI Safety.
The brief statement in the letter reads almost like a mea culpa for the technology about which its creators are now joining together to warn the world.
Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) nations on Saturday called for the creation of technical standards to keep artificial intelligence (AI) in check, saying AI has outpaced oversight for safety and security.
Meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, the leaders said nations must come together on a common vision and goal of trustworthy AI, even while those solutions may vary. But any solution for digital technologies such as AI should be “in line with our shared democratic values,” they said in a statement.
Reflecting warnings given earlier, Apple is now among the growing number of businesses banning employees from using OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other similar cloud-based generative AI services in a bid to protect data confidentiality. The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple has also barred staff from using GitHub’s Copilot tool, which some developers use to help write software.
There are vital national interests in advancing artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline public services and automate mundane tasks performed by government employees. But the government lacks in both IT talent and systems to support those efforts.
“The federal government as a whole continues to face barriers in hiring, managing, and retaining staff with advanced technical skills — the very skills needed to design, develop, deploy, and monitor AI systems,” said Taka Ariga, chief data scientist at the US Government Accountability Office.
Daniel Ho, associate director for Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) at Stanford University, agreed, saying that by one estimate the federal government would need to hire about 40,000 IT workers to address cybersecurity issues posed by AI.