**OpenAI Allows Anyone to Create Custom Chatbots**
Since the start of November, OpenAI has been offering individuals the opportunity to build and publish their own custom versions of ChatGPT, also known as “GPTs”. This new feature allows anyone, regardless of coding skills, to create their own AI chatbot. Thousands of GPTs have been created, with each one tailored to serve different purposes.
### The Risks of Custom GPTs
However, the ease of creating personalized GPTs comes with its own set of risks. Security researchers and technologists have discovered that these custom chatbots can also be forced into leaking their secrets. Through their investigations, they have managed to retrieve the initial instructions given to the chatbots upon their creation, as well as the files used to customize them. This has raised concerns about the potential exposure of people’s personal information or proprietary data.
Jiahao Yu, a computer science researcher at Northwestern University, has emphasized the importance of taking the privacy concerns of file leakage seriously. According to Yu, even if the leaked files do not contain sensitive information, they may still offer knowledge that the designer does not intend to share with others, but which forms the core part of the custom GPT.
### Experiments with Custom GPTs
Yu and his fellow researchers at Northwestern University have put over 200 custom GPTs to the test and found it surprisingly easy to extract information from them. They reported a 100 percent success rate for file leakage and a 97 percent success rate for system prompt extraction. Yu stated that these results were achievable with simple prompts that did not require specialized knowledge in prompt engineering or red-teaming.
### OpenAI’s Plans for Custom GPTs
OpenAI has designed the process of creating custom GPTs to be straightforward, allowing individuals with a subscription to build their own AI agents. These custom GPTs can be created for personal use or published to the web. Additionally, the company plans to provide developers with the opportunity to earn money based on the usage of the custom GPTs.
### Creating a Custom GPT
To create a custom GPT, individuals need to message ChatGPT and specify what they want the custom bot to do. They must provide instructions about the bot’s capabilities and limitations. Furthermore, users can upload documents containing specific information to enhance the chatbot’s expertise. Integrating third-party APIs with a custom GPT can also broaden the range of data it can access and the tasks it can perform.
In conclusion, while OpenAI’s initiative to allow anyone to create custom chatbots has opened up new possibilities, it also raises concerns about privacy and data security. As OpenAI continues to develop this feature, it will be crucial to address these concerns and ensure that the benefits of custom GPTs are balanced with robust privacy protections.
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