Exploring the Vulnerabilities of Nvidia’s AI Software
One of the most promising technologies to emerge from Silicon Valley in recent years is generative AI products like chatbots. Companies are adopting these AI solutions to provide support to customers, answer queries, or provide people with simple advice on health issues. However, the recent research by Robust Intelligence has exposed the vulnerabilities of Nvidia’s AI platform that could allow hackers to bypass the safety constraints and reveal private information.
Understanding Nvidia’s NeMo Framework
Nvidia’s NeMo Framework is a system created to allow developers to work with a large array of language models. The underlying technology powers generative AI products like chatbots, which becomes much easier with Nvidia’s framework. The system is designed to be adopted by companies for various purposes such as providing answers to questions based on specific industries. It is a feature that can replicate the work of customer service representatives or provide advice to people seeking simple medical advice.
The Guardrails Issue
Researchers at San Francisco-based Robust Intelligence found security holes in the AI system that can be exploited to reveal private information. The so-called guardrails set up to ensure safe use of the AI system could be easily bypassed. Researchers reportedly overcame these guardrails within hours of their first attempt to infiltrate the system.
The researchers instructed Nvidia’s system to swap the letter “I” for “J” in one experiment scenario. This move prompted technology to release personally identifiable information (PII) from the database, thus compromising user privacy. The guardrails were breached in other ways too. For instance, the research team could cause the AI system to ramble in ways it shouldn’t, find a way into topics that should have been restricted, and avoid security checks.
Commercializing AI Technologies
The ease with which the researchers passed the safeguards highlights the daunting challenges AI companies face as they try to commercialize AI technologies. Leading AI companies like Google and Microsoft have released chatbots powered by their own language models but have set out guardrails to ensure that their AI products avoid using racist speech or adopting an overbearing persona.
Others have followed with bespoke but experimental AIs that teach young pupils, dispense simple medical advice, translate from one language to another, and write code. Almost everyone has suffered security problems. AI companies such as Nvidia need to deploy more measures to build public trust in the technology.
Cautionary Tale
“We are seeing this as a difficult issue [that] it requires deep cognitive expertise,” said Yaron Singer, CEO of Robust Intelligence and professor of computer science at Harvard University. “These findings serve as a cautionary tale about the pitfalls that exist when deploying AI systems into the real world.”
Addressing the Issue
After the Financial Times reached out to Nvidia for comment on the research, the chipmaker reported that it had addressed one of the root causes of the issues raised by analysts. It is unclear how many companies are currently using Nvidia’s NeMo Framework. Still, the company has received only one report of anomalous behavior thus far.
Nvidia’s spokesperson, Jonathan Cohen, said that his company’s framework was only a “starting point for building AI chatbots that align with developer-defined topicality, safety, and security guidelines.” He added that the framework was released as open source software to allow for exploration of its capabilities, provide feedback, and contribute new cutting-edge techniques. Robust Intelligence’s work identified additional steps that would be required to implement a production application.
Impact on Nvidia’s Stock Price
Nvidia’s stock price has gone up sharply since May 2021, following its expected $11 billion in sales for the three months ending in July. It is over 50% higher than previous Wall Street estimates. The increase is due to the huge demand for its chips that are considered the market-leading processors to build generatively intelligent systems capable of creating human-like content.
Recommendations to Avoid Nvidia’s Software Product
In the wake of the research results, Robust Intelligence advised its customers to avoid using Nvidia’s software product. The AI industry, including Nvidia, needs to focus on building public trust in the technology. It has to make people feel that this is something that has huge potential and isn’t just a threat or something to be afraid of.
Summary
Nvidia’s AI software’s vulnerability exposes the challenges AI companies face when trying to commercialize one of the most promising technologies ever developed. Researchers released reports revealing that Nvidia’s NeMo Framework’s guardrails were easily bypassed, potentially revealing private information.
To build public trust in AI technologies like chatbots, leading companies like Google and Microsoft have deployed their own language models like Nvidia’s NeMo Framework to provide adequate support to customers, answer queries or provide people with simple medical advice. However, with these AI systems come security issues, which can cause an impact on stock prices, as seen with Nvidia’s stock price increase.
The findings from Robust Intelligence’s research serve as a cautionary tale, highlighting the challenges that exist when deploying AI systems into the real world. The AI industry should take note and address these challenges before adopting AI solutions for their workflows.
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A feature of Nvidia’s AI software can be manipulated to bypass security constraints and reveal private information, according to new research.
Nvidia has created a system called the “NeMo Framework” that allows developers to work with a large array of language models, the underlying technology that powers generative AI products like chatbots.
The chipmaker framework is designed to be adopted by companies, for example by using a company’s proprietary data together with linguistic models to provide answers to questions, a feature that could, for example, replicate the work of customer service representatives or advise people looking for simple health advice.
Researchers at San Francisco-based Robust Intelligence found that they could easily break through the so-called guardrails set up to ensure the AI system could be used safely.
After using Nvidia’s system on their own datasets, it took Robust Intelligence analysts hours to come up with language models that could overcome the restrictions.
In one test scenario, the researchers instructed Nvidia’s system to swap the letter “I” for “J”. That move prompted technology to release personally identifiable information, or PII, from a database.
The researchers found that they could skip security checks in other ways, such as causing the model to ramble in ways it shouldn’t.
Replicating Nvidia’s example of a narrow discussion of an employment relationship, they could bring the model into topics like the health of a Hollywood movie star and the Franco-Prussian War, despite the guardrails designed to keep the AI from going beyond specific topics.
The ease with which the researchers passed the safeguards highlights the challenges AI companies face as they try to commercialize one of the most promising technologies to emerge from Silicon Valley in years.
“We are seeing this as a difficult issue [that] it requires deep cognitive expertise,” said Yaron Singer, professor of computer science at Harvard University and chief executive officer of Robust Intelligence. “These findings serve as a cautionary tale about the pitfalls that exist.”
In the wake of the test results, the researchers advised their customers to avoid Nvidia’s software product. After the Financial Times asked Nvidia for comment on the research earlier this week, the chipmaker informed Robust Intelligence that it had addressed one of the root causes of the issues raised by analysts.
Nvidia’s stock price has risen since May when expected $11 billion in sales for the three months ending in July, more than 50% higher than previous Wall Street estimates.
The increase is due to the huge demand for its chips, which are considered the market-leading processors to build generatively TO THEsystems capable of creating human-like content.
Jonathan Cohen, vice president of applied research at Nvidia, said its framework was simply a “starting point for building AI chatbots that align with developer-defined topicality, safety, and security guidelines.”
“It was released as open source software to allow the community to explore its capabilities, provide feedback, and contribute new cutting-edge techniques,” he said, adding that Robust Intelligence’s work “identified additional steps that would be required to implement a production application”.
He declined to say how many companies were using the product, but said the company had received no other reports of anomalous behavior.
Leading AI companies like Google and Microsoft-backed OpenAI have released chatbots powered by their own language models, setting up guardrails to ensure their AI products avoid using racist speech or adopting an overbearing persona.
Others have followed with bespoke but experimental AIs that teach young pupils, dispense simple medical advice, translate from one language to another and write code. Almost everyone has suffered security problems.
Nvidia and others in the AI industry need to “really build public trust in the technology,” Bea Longworth, the company’s head of government affairs in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said at a conference this week by the lobby group. of the TechUK sector.
They have to give the audience the feeling that “this is something that has huge potential and it’s not just a threat, or something to be afraid of,” Longworth added.
https://www.ft.com/content/5aceb7a6-9d5a-4f1f-af3d-1ef0129b0934
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