A recent data leak involving South Korean AI image generator GenNomis has reignited critical conversations around privacy, security, and ethical AI use. The unprotected database, uncovered by a security researcher and reported by Wired, exposed more than 95,000 image generation prompts—some of which included disturbing and potentially illegal content. While GenNomis acted quickly to lock down the database, the incident serves as a stark reminder: as powerful as AI is, it’s only as safe as the infrastructure and policies behind it. But here’s the good news: with the right visibility, guardrails, and governance, organizations can fully embrace AI without compromising data integrity or trust.
Let’s Debunk the Privacy Myth
For many users, prompting an AI tool feels like a private act—like jotting down thoughts in a digital notebook. But in most cloud-based AI systems, those prompts are: logged and stored, analyzed to improve performance, and sometimes reviewed by internal teams. Unless you’re using a local or end-to-end encrypted system, your prompts are likely retained. This doesn’t mean every tool is unsafe—but it does mean organizations need to approach AI with eyes wide open.
It’s Not Just Leaks That Matter—It’s Misuse and Exposure
Data breaches make headlines. But operational risk can come from elsewhere too: insecure infrastructure, poorly governed vendor relationships, or inadequate content moderation. These risks don’t just apply to startups or fringe tools. As more employees experiment with AI—through browsers, SaaS tools, and embedded apps—shadow AI usage is becoming the new shadow IT.
What This Means for the Enterprise
GenAI isn’t just a productivity tool—it’s a new category of data interaction. And that means new considerations for: intellectual property protection, privacy and compliance, and data loss prevention. Prompts can reveal as much as documents. That makes them just as important to monitor, govern, and secure.
What You Can Do Today
- Educate your teams: Help them understand that AI prompts may be stored and reviewed, even on “trusted” platforms.
- Catalog your AI usage: Visibility is key. Know which AI tools are in use and where data might be flowing.
- Apply AI Guardrails: WitnessAI empowers enterprises to observe all AI usage, protect against leakage, and guide users to safer behavior—automatically.
- Govern prompts like data: Because that’s what they are. Treat prompts as structured, sensitive content that needs oversight.
Final Thoughts
The GenNomis incident doesn’t mean you need to stop using AI tools. It means you need to use them wisely—with visibility, control, and a framework built for this new reality. At WitnessAI, we help you do exactly that. So you can move forward with confidence—not fear. Let’s build smarter. Let’s build securely.