The price of easily accessible AI could be your data, experts warn

Business exposure: For heavily regulated industries such as finance or healthcare, leaking business information to AI models can have serious consequences. Personally identifiable information (PII) or sensitive business data could be exposed and used for malicious purposes. According to Seki, once sensitive data enters a large language model, it becomes nearly impossible to remove. 

He highlights the importance of anonymizing and sanitizing client data before sharing it with AI systems. "Imagine a wealth management professional asking an AI tool for portfolio advice. If they casually share their client's name, address, and investment details, they're exposing themselves to regulatory fines—and that information could potentially be used in a social engineering attack," Seki says. He is currently working on a solution that focuses on anonymizing sensitive information while retaining the essence of messages, ensuring that businesses can leverage AI safely.

Behind the curtain: Looking ahead, Seki predicts that U.S. startups will race to replicate DeepSeek's cost efficiency in 2025. But he cautions against sacrificing security for speed. "The real winners will be companies that balance efficiency with trust," he says.

He encourages businesses to carefully evaluate AI models and understand where their data is hosted and who has access to it. "You need to dig deep and look behind the curtain," Seki advises. "If you're building a recipe app, DeepSeek might be perfect for you. But if you're handling sensitive business data, you could be opening Pandora's box."