LLMs and data security: What businesses need to know
Large Language Models (LLMs) have transformed the way businesses interact with AI, but concerns about data privacy and security remain a major barrier to adoption. High-profile cases of data leaks and compliance risks have raised questions about how companies can use this technology safely and in line with European regulations.
The good news? LLMs themselves are not inherently insecure. The risks depend on how the model is operated and managed. With the right approach, businesses can leverage LLMs while ensuring data protection, compliance, and security.
Understanding the risks of LLMs
Data Leaks
One of the biggest concerns is that private or sensitive data could be exposed to unintended users. This happens when a shared model is trained on customer inputs without proper isolation. If a model is not configured correctly, it may generate responses that accidentally include data from other customers.
Compliance Risks
Storing customer input indefinitely or using it for training without consent can lead to violations of GDPR and other privacy laws. Organizations must ensure that AI providers store and process data in a compliant manner, particularly when operating in Europe.
How LanguageWire Prevents Data Leaks
At LanguageWire, we take data security seriously and have developed a structured approach to prevent data leaks while using LLMs.
Isolated Model Customization: Instead of fine-tuning shared models with private customer data, we use Personalized Efficient Fine-Tuning (PEFT) and LoRA technology to apply customizations without compromising security.
Strict Data Separation: Our system ensures that each customer’s data is stored and processed independently, preventing any cross-contamination.
No Shared Base Model Training: Unlike many LLM providers, we never train shared models with private customer data, ensuring that information always remains protected.
This setup means that only the requesting customer has access to their own data, eliminating the risk of unauthorized data exposure.
Ensuring compliance with AI regulations
To maintain compliance with GDPR and other regulations, LanguageWire follows strict operational guidelines when running LLMs:
EU-Based Infrastructure: All customer data is processed and stored within secure EU data centers.
No Data Storage During Model Usage: We do not retain customer data after an AI request is completed.
End-to-End Encryption: Every interaction is fully encrypted, preventing unauthorized access.
How LanguageWire operates secure AI models
We ensure security and compliance by running LLMs in two ways:
Fully Controlled Infrastructure
For maximum security, we operate our own infrastructure—managing servers, GPUs, and networking resources. This means we have full control over AI operations, ensuring that no third parties can access customer data.
Trusted Model Providers
For complex AI use cases requiring larger proprietary models, we partner with strictly vetted AI providers that meet our security and compliance standards. One example is Google’s PaLM 2 model, which guarantees key safeguards including EU infrastructure locality, a zero data storage policy, full encryption for all interactions, and customisable AI tuning within a secure environment. By taking this hybrid approach, LanguageWire can deliver both high-performance AI models and the highest levels of data security, giving businesses confidence and control in their AI-driven workflows.
Making LLMs work for your business
With the right security measures in place, businesses can safely integrate LLMs into their workflows without compromising data privacy. To do this effectively, it's essential to follow best practices: use isolated AI customisation to avoid training shared models with private customer data, store and process data securely by choosing providers that follow GDPR and EU compliance, and encrypt all AI interactions to ensure full protection of every AI-generated request. Finally, always vet third-party model providers carefully, partnering only with platforms that uphold strict enterprise-grade security standards. By taking these steps, companies can fully leverage the power of LLMs while maintaining trust and compliance. If you want to prevent data leaks and want your data to always remain safe, get in touch with an expert linguistic today!
