Privacy and Confidentiality Concerns of Large Language Models [Resource]
Privacy and Confidentiality Concerns of Large Language Models [Resource]
C. Anneke Snyder
What You Will Learn in This Section
In this section, you will gain insights about privacy and confidentiality concerns related to a form of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) known as Large Language Models (LLMs) and, specifically, OpenAI’s policies about ChatGPT.
The full extent of privacy and confidentiality risks in relation to ChatGPT, which relies on collective intelligence for information gathering and dissemination, has not been fully realized. Users should be mindful of OpenAI’s terms of use, particularly as those terms are subject to change. Though OpenAI claims to not share private user information, the language around such statements is vague and contradictory, and there is a strong possibility that personal information may be monitored by human proctors. Moreover, educators who are bound to the legal obligations outlined in FERPA should be particularly concerned about how student privacy could be potentially violated by using ChatGPT and other GenAI technologies.
After reading this section, you should be able to articulate and discuss OpenAI’s significant terms of use and privacy policy, consider the potential privacy and intellectual property violations contained within the collective intelligence paradigm, and communicate your own concerns about privacy and confidentiality in relation to GenAI technologies.
This chapter is divided in the following sections. Click the links below to jump down to a section that interests you:
- Author Reflection: How has my understanding of AI evolved?
- Why are privacy and confidentiality important concerns in the era of generative AI?
- What essential information is contained within OpenAI’s terms of use for ChatGPT?
- What are the consequences of individual information becoming part of the collective?
- What are other privacy and confidentiality concerns for educators?
- Why should educators share privacy and confidentiality concerns with students?
- What privacy and confidentiality concerns should educators share with students?
Author Reflection: How has my understanding of AI evolved?
Like most people confronted with new technology, I went through different emotional stages, not unlike the stages of grief, when faced with GenAI: denial that this technology existed, apprehension as I accepted that this technology was here to stay, anticipation as I used this technology for the first time, and excitement as I began to realize the possibilities of using such a tool. All of these thoughts brought me to my current stage of thoughtful contemplation. My use of ChatGPT and other forms of GenAI began when I started working on this project which was, coincidentally, a time when I was also actively writing one of my dissertation chapters. As I worked on my dissertation, I found myself using ChatGPT as a thesaurus, dictionary, translator, editor, and a host of other resources; I could input my messy, inarticulat