Gen AI Guardrails: 5 Risks to Your Business and How to Avoid Them

Researchers at USC found bias in a staggering 38.6% of the ‘facts’ used by generative AI (Gen AI). This misinformation can lead to disastrous consequences for your business without the proper Gen AI guardrails. While Gen AI offers incredible potential, it’s a double-edged sword. Without the proper Gen AI guardrails, it can sabotage customer experiences, derail operations, and put your company at risk.

Dive Deeper into Gen AI Risks

This article exposes five major pitfalls of uncontrolled Gen AI. But we’ve got you covered if you want a more in-depth look at specific areas:

• Chatbots & Reputation: Read here.
• Deceptive Ecommerce Search: Read here.
• Manufacturing Precision: Read here.
• Overpersonalization & Privacy: Read here.
• Fixing Broken Intranet Search: Read here.

Rogue Chatbots: Don’t Let Gen AI Ruin Your Reputation

AI chatbots offer convenient customer service, but without careful oversight, they can turn into a nightmare. Take DPD, the European delivery company whose chatbot went rogue, swearing at customers and causing a PR disaster. With customer expectations higher than ever, a single bad chatbot experience can destroy trust and drive customers away.

Gen AI Guardrails for Chatbot Success

Gen AI guardrails create a framework within which your chatbot can operate safely and effectively. With careful programming, you avoid misaligned communication and protect your brand’s reputation. Here’s what to keep in mind:

• Technical Expertise: Your chatbot must accurately understand and respond to customer requests.
• Brand Identity: Embed your company’s values and tone of voice into your chatbot’s programming for consistency.
• Proactive Monitoring: Regularly review chatbot interactions to swiftly identify and address any issues.
• Constant Refinement: Keep your chatbot’s knowledge base updated and its responses tailored for optimal performance.

Remember, a chatbot directly reflects your brand. Invest the time and resources to ensure it delivers a positive and reliable customer experience.

Read more: Don’t let chatbots damage your reputation! Learn how to avoid PR disasters with our in-depth guide on managing chatbots.

Deceptive Responses: A Risk to Customers and Your Business

In e-commerce, accurate search plays a vital role in customer experience. Generative AI (GenAI) can enhance search, but also carries the potential for deceptive results. These can range from frustratingly irrelevant suggestions to those posing serious risks.

Remember the Air Canada incident where a generative AI chatbot suggested an unsuitable solution to a passenger requesting a refund? Similar slip-ups occur in e-commerce as well:

• A customer searching for a “winter sleeping bag” getting results for a lightweight summer version, risking hypothermia on a camping trip.
• Someone looking for a “safe baby car seat” being shown options that don’t meet safety standards.
• “Gluten-free snacks” turning out to contain gluten, harming those with intolerances.

These scenarios damage customer trust and can have severe consequences for your business’s reputation.

Gen AI Guardrails: Ground Search in Truth, Prioritizing Safety and Accuracy

To mitigate risk, your ecommerce platform needs search that goes beyond basic keyword matching. Here’s where the synergy of Gen AI and Lucidworks can help:

• Advanced NLP: Deep understanding of complex customer queries ensures highly relevant results.
• Truth-Grounding: Gen AI responses are constantly checked against your knowledge base and reliable sources, preventing the spread of misinformation.
• Gen AI Guardrails: Safety rules prevent the suggestion of harmful or inappropriate products and guide the search for the correct items.

By combining Gen AI’s creativity with search that prioritizes safety and accuracy, you protect customers and build a reliable online presence. This investment translates into positive customer experiences and enhanced trust in your business.

Read more: Misleading responses from Gen AI can damage customer loyalty. Our deep dive on deceptive search results shows you how to avoid.

Manufacturing Search Errors: Costly Mistakes You Can’t Afford

In the complex world of critical-component manufacturing, search precision is paramount. A simple misunderstanding can lead to wasted resources, lost deals, and damaged relationships. Imagine searching for “precision CNC machining solutions for aerospace components” and getting generic results. That’s a recipe for costly errors, returns, reputation damage, and missed opportunities.

Gen AI Guardrails: Building Search That Understands Your Business

Your enterprise search system needs to be as specialized as your industry. It must accurately interpret complex queries, understand your customer’s language, and deliver results tailored to your niche. This precision is essential for informed decision-making and maximizing efficiency. It’s why semiconductor manufacturer STMicroelectronics chose Lucidworks as its search partner that understands the intricacies of your niche world.

Read more: Go deeper into why accuracy and precision in your Gen AI responses are essential for critical-component manufacturing.

Overpersonalization: When Gen AI Crosses the Line

Personalized experiences are the ultimate goal, but there’s a dark side if not handled correctly: the risk of violating user and company privacy. This isn’t just about chatbots getting too chatty — it’s about serious breaches with severe consequences. That brings us to striking the perfect balance. Mishandling sensitive information in regulated industries like finance or healthcare can lead to legal action and irreparable reputational damage.

It goes both ways: You need to protect both your clients’ sensitive information and your company’s confidential data. Tailor responses to customers’ needs without mining their data inappropriately. In a manufacturing or other B2B setting, this means understanding the business, not personal lives. Imagine the chaos a seemingly innocent “tell me how much our CEO earns” query could cause!

Gen AI Guardrails: Balancing Personalization with Privacy

The key is to use Gen AI for personalized experiences while fiercely protecting user and company privacy. This means:

• Proactive Privacy: Build privacy into the core of your AI systems from the start.
• Strict Compliance: Adhere to evolving industry regulations.
• Knowledge Boundaries: Ensure your Gen AI only accesses approved content sources.

By implementing robust Gen AI guardrails, you’ll build trust and ensure positive, ethical experiences for both customers and employees.

In an age of rampant data breaches, robust privacy protection within Gen AI applications isn’t optional — it’s an ethical imperative. Prioritize responsible personalization to deliver the benefits without the risk.

Read more: Find out what to do when AI gets a little too friendly in our deep dive on Gen AI guardrails to prevent overpersonalization.

Intranet Challenges: Outdated and Inaccurate Information

Don’t underestimate the impact of your internal AI systems. Outdated or inaccurate information on your intranet can create serious problems:

• Inefficiency: Wrong information wastes time and resources.
• Compliance Risks: Inaccurate procedures, especially regarding safety, can lead to violations and legal trouble.
• Employee Confusion: Misinformation hurts productivity and morale.

Gen AI Guardrails: Intranet Search You Can Trust

Your intranet’s search tools must deliver relevant content securely. This establishes essential Gen AI guardrails for your internal operations, promoting operational efficiency and compliance. Prioritize regular content updates to ensure employees always have access to the most current and accurate information.

A reliable intranet is essential for a knowledgeable, efficient, and compliant workforce.

Read more: How Gen AI — with the necessary guardrails — could solves your intranet search woes.

Add Essential Gen AI Guardrails with Lucidworks

Lucidworks is your partner in navigating the complexities of Gen AI. Here’s how we empower your business:

Customer-Centric Chatbots

Our systems keep your chatbots accurate, on-brand, and helpful — ensuring positive customer interactions.

Safe and Accurate Search

Our AI understands customer needs, delivering relevant and trustworthy search results. This builds trust and drives e-commerce success.

B2B Precision

Lucidworks’ Insight Engine deciphers complex queries, providing the specialized information your B2B clients demand.

Privacy by Design

We balance personalization with strict compliance. User data is protected, and experiences are tailored responsibly.

Reliable Intranets

Keep your workforce informed and compliant with up-to-date intranet search tools powered by Lucidworks.

Our solutions are tailored to meet the diverse needs of modern businesses, ensuring that Gen AI becomes a powerful ally rather than a liability. Visit our website or contact us today to learn more.