GenAI is the new Mainstream - Key Insights on Its Unprecedented Adoption

Itamar Golan
December 24, 2023

It might seem like the storm of GenAI has only just begun, but we are witnessing a different adoption pace than anything we’ve seen before. AI is delivering a completely new experience. In just over a year since the ChatGPT launch, it has dramatically altered everything we know in the tech realm, and it has taken center stage. It is everywhere, widely adopted, and becoming the mainstream method to initiate tasks: whether it's writing an email, fixing code, or designing a logo. Regardless of the task, GenAI is the starting point.

Mainstream it is

  • Reports show a 50% increase in productivity on average
  • 80% of the population is already using GenAI to some extent
  • Around 97% of developers are utilizing GenAI
  • 77% of developers are using ChatGPT
  • 46% of developers are using GitHub Copilot
  • 40% of organizations plan to increase AI investment
  • Around 88% of companies expect their revenues to be positively impacted by generative AI
  • ChatGPT acquired 1 million users just 5 days after its launch in November 2022. In comparison, it took Netflix about 3.5 years to reach 1 million users

Risky it is

“With great power comes great responsibility,” Spider-Man said. Indeed, as GenAI spreads virally within your organization, you should be aware of various risks and ensure maximum safety.

Currently, about 50% of organizations claim to block the usage of GenAI, but of course, this is not the way. We should enable it in a controlled and secure manner.

Interestingly, according to a recent JetBrains survey, 59% of developers are concerned about GenAI security issues.

The main risks, from our perspective, are:

  1. Shadow AI: Adoption, usage, and integration of various GenAI tools daily without any visibility to them or their compliance/security guarantees. Many integrate with your company’s critical assets, and several use your data for future training.
  2. Sensitive Data Disclosure: Whether it's through ShadowAI or well-known platforms like ChatGPT or Jasper, sensitive data from your organization is being streamed to these GenAI tools 24/7. This is happening at an unprecedented pace, and unlike any other tool we've seen, there's a significant probability that this data will be used for future training and potentially be generated by these tools on external endpoints in the coming weeks or months.
  3. Jailbreaks/Prompt Injection: Exposing your GenAI application to customers makes you vulnerable. A malicious actor can craft a prompt in plain English that can lead to embarrassing and harmful effects on your brand reputation, up to and including denial of service, legal complications, or severe attacks like remote code execution or SQL injection.

    You can also dive into the complete list of risks.

Conclusion

GenAI is widely used in your organization. Since you can't block it, become a safe enabler. Adopt security tools that allow you to enforce policies and ensure you have complete visibility and data privacy protection across your GenAI stack.

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