Wyoming Biz Tips for November

An occasional look at issues facing Wyoming business owners and entrepreneurs from the Wyoming Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Network, a collection of business assistance programs at the University of Wyoming.

By Jim Drever, associate state director, Wyoming SBDC Network

Anthropic, developers of a large language model (LLM) framework, an artificial intelligence (AI) platform, recently released a study showing that it takes as few as 250 malicious documents to "poison" any AI LLM -- even the massive ones trained on billions of records.

So, what does "poisoning" an LLM mean?

In the study's examples, normal AI prompts that would provide correct information or computer code produced unreadable gibberish to the same prompts after being exposed to 250 malicious documents. That tainted output returned by AI could represent far more dangerous manipulative information, such as:

-- Providing links to phishing sites instead of legitimate websites.

-- Giving false information referencing politics, stock price manipulation and actual "fake news."

-- Corrupting code shared with programmers who use AI to check or develop software.

That last example, about cybersecurity, is especially concerning. When developers ask AI for help with coding, they often copy and paste the code examples provided. A "poisoned" AI could slip in malicious code with vulnerabilities, data leaks or hidden viruses. Those could then get built into other programs used everywhere from casual phone apps to critical flight control systems.

The takeaway is this. Whenever you use AI, assume it might have made a mistake and verify the information elsewhere -- and not with another AI bot. AI platforms can be powerful tools: think a smart intern who can handle a lot of your business's workload. But they still need careful supervision to avoid costly mistakes.

The Wyoming SBDC Network offers no-cost advising and technical assistance to help Wyoming entrepreneurs think about, launch, grow, reinvent or exit their business. In 2024, the Wyoming SBDC Network helped Wyoming entrepreneurs start 46 new businesses; support 1,870 jobs; and bring a capital impact of $2.9 million to the state. The Wyoming SBDC Network is hosted by UW with state funds from the Wyoming Business Council and funded, in part, through a cooperative agreement with the U.S Small Business Administration.

To ask a question, call 1-800-348-5194, email [email protected] or write Dept. 3922, 1000 E. University Ave., Laramie, WY 82071-3922.

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All opinions, conclusions, and/or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.