Artificial intelligence is spying on gossip and secrets in your workplace – and then sharing them

HE is all ears.

Innovative office technology that uses artificial intelligence is listening to your conversations and risks revealing company secrets and workplace gossip, turning the tool into a dangerous nuisance.

Alex Bilzerian, a researcher and engineer, recently took to X to explain how Otter AI, a platform he used to transcribe a Zoom meeting with a venture capitalist firm, accidentally leaked a confidential conversation.

After the meeting ended, Bilzerian received an email of the transcript of the call — and realized that the smart assistant had continued to record the conversation even after Bilzerian had disconnected. The transcript, he said, included “their hours [the investors from the venture capital firm] private conversation afterwards, where they discussed intimate, confidential details of their business.”

While the investors “profusely apologized,” Bilzerian still decided to stop the deal with their firm, he told the Washington Post.

It might be a “reasonable assumption” to think that AI assistants could detect when participants exit a meeting and not send the rest of the transcript, but Hatim Rahman, an associate professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, told The Washington Post that the technology isn’t always accurate.

Otter AI responded to Bilzerian’s X post to reiterate the company’s commitment to user privacy, explaining that they “understand the concerns” and are “committed to keeping your information private and secure.”

A VC firm I had a Zoom meeting with used Otter AI to record the call, and after the meeting, automatically emailed me the transcript, including hours of their private conversations afterwards where they discussed intimate, confidential details about their business.

— Alex Bilzerian (@alexbilz) September 26, 2024

“Users have full control over their chat sharing permissions and can change, update or stop sharing a chat’s permissions at any time,” the company wrote.

“For this specific example, users have the option of not automatically sharing transcripts with anyone or automatically sharing conversations only with users who share the same Workspace domain.”

Meanwhile, OtterPilot, the AI ​​assistant that records and transcribes meetings, only captures the audio from the call, so it won’t record anything said by a silent participant.

People on the call will also receive a notification that the meeting is being recorded and the virtual assistant will appear as a participant in the meeting, according to The Washington Post.

The Company may also collect screenshots of meetings – including text or other media uploaded by participants – which may be shared with third parties who support or advertise with Otter or law enforcement in some cases.

Rob Bezdijan, owner of an events business in Salt Lake City, once lost a deal opportunity because he refused to let potential investors record the meeting at Otter, telling The Washington Post that he was wary of letting his ideas of business to be registered and removed. certain details as a result.

“I think it’s a big issue because the technology is spreading so quickly and people haven’t realized how invasive it is,” researcher and privacy advocate Naomi Brockwell told the media.

Brockwell warned that AI increases the risk of disclosure of company secrets and opens the possibility of lawsuits.

Will Andre, a cybersecurity consultant, warned against the uninformed and widespread use of AI tools across companies, telling The Washington Post that in his previous marketing role he came across a record on the company’s public servers that contained footage of his bosses discussing layoffs.

“There needs to be awareness from companies that people of different ages and technological abilities will be using these products,” added Rahman.

AI-powered software and devices have come under intense scrutiny recently as more companies integrate the technology into their products.

Apple created Apple Intelligence, while Google recently launched Gemini. The use of artificial intelligence on social media platforms has also sparked outrage among users of platforms such as Meta, which trains Meta AI using publicly available user data.