It’s no secret that the launch of generative AIs like ChatGPT has opened up a world of opportunities for people and businesses alike, enabling them to save operational costs and generate profits. Now, in a recent development, Microsoft has unveiled its Azure OpenAI Service tailored for the US government, which offers a secure and compliant environment for utilizing powerful language models, including ChatGPT and GPT-4.
Enabling Secure Access
Microsoft has developed a new architecture that enables secure access to AI models through REST APIs within the commercial environment of the Azure Government. This architecture ensures that government data remains isolated from the public internet. Additionally, the company will also encrypt all the traffic using the IEEE 802.1AE (MACsec) network security standard.
“Microsoft Azure Government provides stringent security and compliance standards necessary to meet government requirements for sensitive data. The backbone is one of the largest in the world with more than 250,000 km of lit fibre optic and undersea cable systems,” says Microsoft.
Data logging concerns
While Microsoft acknowledges that it will log some data during conversations, they have also presented a solution to address these concerns, as customers who meet specific eligibility criteria will have the ability to request modifications to the Azure OpenAI content management features. Moreover, Bill Chappell, Microsoft’s CTO of Strategic Missions and Technologies, also ensured that they will not use any government data in training OpenAI’s models as they do with consumer information.
“If Microsoft approves a customer’s request to modify data logging, then Microsoft does not store any prompts and completions associated with the approved Azure subscription for which data logging is configured off in Azure commercial,” said Microsoft.
Despite Microsoft’s impressive array of new features catered specifically for the government, industry experts have expressed concerns regarding the privacy and security of government ChatGPT usage, considering that both Microsoft and OpenAI have experienced major security breaches in the past.