Microsoft Halts Internal Use of Perplexity AI
- Microsoft has barred its employees from accessing Perplexity AI’s chatbot, a major customer of the Azure OpenAI service.
- Microsoft has also barred using other competing AI tools, such as Google’s Gemini, on employee devices.
Microsoft is reportedly blocking access to Perplexity AI’s chatbot for its employee devices. The chatbot provides search engine-like capabilities through conversational responses. The company is one of the largest consumers of Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI service. Other consumers of the service include Coca-Cola, Walmart, and JPMorgan Chase.
Microsoft employees saw a notification on their screens blocking access to Perplexity’s website. While Microsoft did not clarify its stance about the chatbot, internal company websites emphasized the importance of user security and privacy, encouraging using its own secure services, such as the enterprise versions of ChatGPT and Bing Chat.
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This is the latest in a trend of tech companies restricting employee access to artificial intelligence (AI) tools, particularly those that come from external sources. Microsoft has also restricted employee access to Google’s Gemini chatbot. Last year, it temporarily blocked OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Other tech companies also have similar policies. Amazon and Samsung have blocked their employees from using AI tools over concerns that AI services could take advantage of potentially proprietary data employees put into these tools. The move highlights the continuing concerns associated with AI and data security and the safeguards required for the responsible use of artificial intelligence technologies in the tech sector.
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