Lesson 5 of 5, 10 min with the exercise
Decide what you won't paste in
Avoid the mistake that's hardest to undo.
Tools differ in how they store your data and whether they train on it, and the answer often depends on your plan and settings. Find out before you paste anything sensitive. Check your provider's current data terms, and ask whoever handles IT or legal at your company.
Until you know, keep these out: customer personal data, staff records, passwords and keys, unreleased financials, and anything under an NDA.
Some decisions shouldn't be left to a model even with safe data: hiring, firing, credit, and anything else that seriously affects a person. It can draft or summarise, but a person should make the call and be able to explain it.
See it in practice
A quick way to clean text before pasting: replace names with roles and remove identifying numbers. "Sara Hassan, account 88213, owes $4,200" becomes "Customer A owes [amount]". You can usually still get the help you wanted. This lowers the risk, though it doesn't make confidential material safe to share, and details can still identify someone.
Common mistake: Assuming a paid plan means your data is protected. Terms vary by plan and change over time, so read the current ones for the plan you have.
Try it
Write three lines for your team: which tool is approved, what never goes in, and who to ask. The one-page AI policy template gives you a fuller version.
You're done when
- You know your tool's data settings for your plan
- Your team has a written list of what never goes in