Should Your Team Use ChatGPT? Pros and Cons

Wondering how ChatGPT fits into your business? Forbes says big companies like Salesforce, Bain & Company, and Instacart are embracing ChatGPT. However, Business Insider says Apple, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and other big companies have banned employees from using ChatGPT. What should your company do? Before you decide whether to let your team use ChatGPT, you need to know the pros and cons.

Key Takeaways

• Generative AI tools can meaningfully boost productivity — summarizing reports, drafting emails, brainstorming, and even writing code — but the same speed that makes them useful can spread mistakes just as fast.
• AI models can “hallucinate” confidently incorrect information, including fabricated legal citations and false claims about real people — always verify anything AI-generated before relying on or publishing it.
• Sensitive company or client data entered into a consumer-grade AI tool may not stay private, which is why many companies now require enterprise-tier tools with contractual data protections rather than free consumer versions.
• Content generated by AI tools may not qualify for copyright protection under current U.S. Copyright Office guidance, which can matter if your business relies on owning the content it produces.
• By 2026, most organizations have moved past a simple “allow or ban” decision toward formal AI use policies that specify what’s permitted, what data can’t be shared, and which tools are approved.
• If your business uses AI in ways that touch client data, professional advice, or public-facing content, it’s worth discussing whether your current insurance program actually covers AI-related errors or data exposure.

Pro: ChatGPT can free up time.

What if every employee could have a personal assistant who summarized reports, wrote emails, brainstormed ideas, and created schedules? With ChatGPT, this is possible. Anyone can use ChatGPT’s free option as a virtual assistant. You can even use ChatGPT to write code and copy.

With ChatGPT, workers could be much more productive. Some people are concerned it might even replace workers, leading to layoffs. In fact, Bloomberg reported that IBM froze hiring in 2023 for jobs that AI could do — an early sign of how seriously companies were taking AI’s productivity potential.

Con: You can’t trust ChatGPT.

If one of your employees frequently spouted lies instead of doing real research, you’d probably want to terminate that employee. ChatGPT is known for lying – only people usually call it hallucinating. When asked for examples, it will often simply make them up. Ars Technica reported on an early, widely cited case of a lawyer who cited six fake cases that ChatGPT made up, facing professional discipline as a result.

ChatGPT has also made up information about real people. Reuters reported on an Australian mayor who considered a defamation lawsuit after ChatGPT falsely claimed he’d served time in prison for bribery, and Variety reported a radio host actually filed a lawsuit over similarly fabricated claims.

Pro: ChatGPT can give advice.

Running a business requires a lot of decisions, which is something ChatGPT can help with. According to Futurism, one man used ChatGPT to launch a new business with only a $100 investment, following the AI’s advice on what type of business to set up, what domain to use, what logo to have, and more.

Con: ChatGPT might expose your data.

You might give ChatGPT code to fix bugs or financial information to gain suggestions for business plans. If you give ChatGPT your sensitive information to help it generate a response, you probably want that information to be secure – but it might not be.

OpenAI disclosed a bug that allowed some ChatGPT users to see the chat history of other users. The bug was patched, but it raised lasting data privacy concerns.

These data privacy concerns are one of the key reasons some companies restrict AI tool use. Bloomberg reported that Samsung prohibited workers from using ChatGPT after an employee uploaded sensitive code to the platform. In our experience, this is the risk that comes up most often in client conversations now — not whether to use AI tools at all, but whether the specific tool and tier a team has adopted actually includes the data protections leadership assumes it does.

Pro: ChatGPT can create content.

ChatGPT can write articles, essays, letters, emails, web copy, and even code. In the past, businesses would have needed to pay a high price to buy such content. With ChatGPT, you can receive an endless stream of free content and code of at least decent quality.

Con: Your company might not own the content ChatGPT creates for you.

If employees write content in the course of their regular job duties, their employers can often copyright it under work-for-hire principles. However, when ChatGPT creates content, you may have no legal claim to it.

This is a highly contentious topic – and one that is still developing, although there is already some precedent. After initially granting copyright protection to Zarya of the Dawn (a comic book featuring images created with generative AI), the U.S. Copyright Office revoked the copyright for the images. Only works created by humans are eligible for copyright protection. Under this interpretation, content created by generative AI alone generally cannot be copyrighted.

Many companies would prefer to have copyright protection for their content to prevent others – including their competitors – from using it. However, copyright issues are not the only problem with AI-generated content.

We’ve already discussed how these tools tend to fabricate information; there’s also evidence that AI content generators may commit plagiarism. Futurism reported that AI-generated articles published by CNET contained numerous errors as well as significant structural and phrasing similarities to other articles, without credit given — raising plagiarism concerns.

The problem may stem from the way these tools work. Generative AI models are trained on content created by others, typically without the consent of the original creators. This has led to allegations of copyright infringement, and Harvard Business Review reported early lawsuits against generative AI companies on exactly this basis.

Where Things Stand in 2026

The AI landscape has moved quickly since this debate first came up. Most large employers have moved past a binary “allow or ban” decision toward formal AI use policies — specifying which tools are approved, what data can and can’t be shared, and how AI-assisted work should be reviewed before it’s used or published. Enterprise and business-tier versions of tools like ChatGPT now typically offer contractual data protections that weren’t available in the free consumer versions this post originally discussed, which has addressed some (though not all) of the data privacy concerns raised above. The core questions this post raises — accuracy, data exposure, IP ownership — are still the right questions to ask; the available answers and tools have simply matured. For a more current, insurance-specific look at this topic, see our post on hidden AI risk for tech companies.

The Final Verdict on ChatGPT

Should you allow your team to use ChatGPT? Maybe – but cautiously. There are many advantages – in fact, generative AI may well be the way of the future. However, if you’re planning to let your team use these tools, you need to proceed carefully to minimize the risks.

• Assess and understand the risks involved with using ChatGPT for business operations. Depending on your business, you may face exposures related to quality control, privacy and intellectual property, among others.
• Create policies outlining precisely what employees are and are not allowed to do. For example, can workers give ChatGPT company information? Can they use ChatGPT to write articles or client communications? Should they use ChatGPT to organize data?
• Help your workers use ChatGPT safely and effectively. These AI tools are still new to many teams, so consider creating training materials or hosting training sessions.
• Consider getting a paid or enterprise version of ChatGPT. These tiers typically enable privacy protections not available in the free version.
• Keep the dialogue open. Once you have a policy in place, you need to make sure your employees know it. Explain why certain restrictions exist so your team understands the risks. Continue to talk to your team about how they’re using ChatGPT and what successes and frustrations they’re experiencing. This will help you refine your policies and strategies going forward.
• Embrace transparency. When people think they’re dealing with humans and then find out they’re actually dealing with AI, they can feel deceived. Hiding your use of ChatGPT could alienate customers, and it could even lead to disputes with partners, clients and vendors. If you’re going to use ChatGPT, you may want to be open about it and include disclosures in your contracts. This will also give you the opportunity to position your AI usage in a positive light.

AI Risk Doesn’t Stop at Policy — It Extends to Coverage

New technology like generative AI is creating both opportunities and risks. Heffernan Insurance Brokers can help your business think through whether its current insurance program actually addresses AI-related exposures — see our deeper look at hidden AI risk for tech companies specifically, or reach out to talk through your own risk profile.