11/29/2023

OpenAI’s Custom Chatbots Are Leaking Their Secrets

Some of the company's data they’re built on is easily exposed

You don’t need to know how to code to create your own AI chatbot. Since the start of November—shortly before the chaos at the company unfolded—OpenAI has let anyone build and publish their own custom versions of ChatGPT, known as “GPTs." Thousands have been created: A “nomad” GPT gives advice about working and living remotely, another claims to search 200 million academic papers to answer your questions, and yet another will turn you into a Pixar character.

However, these custom GPTs can also be forced into leaking their secrets. Security researchers and technologists probing the custom chatbots have made them spill the initial instructions they were given when they were created, and have also discovered and downloaded the files used to customize the chatbots. People’s personal information or proprietary data can be put at risk, experts say.

"The privacy concerns of file leakage should be taken seriously," said Jiahao Yu, a computer science researcher at Northwestern University. "Even if they do not contain sensitive information, they may contain some knowledge that the designer does not want to share with others, and [that serves] as the core part of the custom GPT."

Please select this link to read the complete article from WIRED.