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 wsbdc@uwyo.edu or write Dept. 3922, 1000 E. University Ave., Laramie, WY 82071-3922.
For more information, go here.
All opinions, conclusions, and/or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.
