"It's been over a year since ChatGPT Enterprise, and Co-pilot Enterprise were released yet Amazonians are left behind the curve due to limited options that are safe-for-business use," the document stated. "Without an AI Assistant, Amazonians will have lower job satisfaction than other companies who do adopt these tools. In addition, companies that leverage AI will have a higher decision velocity and be more productive — hence be able to serve customers faster and better than Amazon."

The launch of Cedric underscores the challenges companies face as they seek to use AI tools safely and securely. While AI chatbots can potentially help workers, the risk of employees sharing confidential business information, intentionally or not, is high. Questions remain about how generative AI companies handle confidential information that goes in and out of their systems and whether this data is used for model training.

A thorny issue

For Amazon, this is a particularly thorny issue. Its arch rival Microsoft has launched AI assistant products, and it's a close partner and investor in OpenAI, the startup company behind ChatGPT. Shortly after ChatGPT's release in late 2022, Amazon started warning employees not to share confidential information with the chatbot. Earlier this year, Amazon formalized internal guidelines that ban external AI tools, including ChatGPT, for business purposes.

In recent years, a number of large companies, including Apple, Samsung, and JP Morgan Chase, also restricted their employees from using ChatGPT due to privacy concerns. That has created a hidden wave of employees secretly using such AI tools at work, called "CheatGPT," because this tech can help them do their jobs faster.

In an email to BI, an Amazon spokesperson said the company supports using generative AI technology at work, and internal guidance helps employees "use these services while properly managing confidential information."

"Amazon employees use internal generative AI tools every day to innovate on behalf of our customers. We have safeguards in place for employee use of these technologies, which is focused on protecting confidential information, including guidance on accessing third-party generative AI services," the spokesperson added.

'Reading and writing companion'

Internally, Amazon is calling Cedric "your secure doc reading and writing companion," according to the internal document. It suggests employees use it to create Amazon's famous 6-page memos "in seconds" and turn meeting notes into email-ready formats "safely and securely." Read more