Keeping private things out of AI tools
Keeping private things out of AI tools means never typing in details that could hurt you or somebody else. A student pastes a whole group chat into a chatbot to get a summary.
The chat has names, phone numbers and a friend's secret in it. Once sent, it may be kept. You cannot always take it back.
By the end of this lesson
Note
I can decide what is safe to type into an AI tool.
Key words
| Word | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Personal data | any fact about a person who can be identified | |
| Password | a secret word that lets you into an account | |
| Private | meant only for you or a few people | |
| Permission | a clear yes from the person it is about | |
| Redact | to hide part of a text before sharing it | [email] |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
What you type may be kept
An AI tool sends what you type to computers run by the people who made it. It may be stored. People who work there may read it. It may be used to train a later version.
So treat a chatbot like a public place. Type nothing you would not say out loud on a busy bus.
Worked example: never type these in
| Never type in | Why | Instead |
|---|---|---|
| Your home address or full name with your college | Somebody could find you | Leave it out |
| Any password or login code | Somebody could get into your account | Never share it with anyone |
| Bank card or payment details | Somebody could take money | Leave it out |
| A friend's phone number or secret | It is not yours to share | Ask them, or leave it out |
| Health details | They are very private | Talk to a person you trust |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Other people's details are not yours
A friend's number, a classmate's marks or a screenshot of a group chat are personal data about other people. They did not agree to you sending them.
Pictures need the most care. Never upload a photo of somebody without their permission. Never use AI to change a picture of a real person in a way that could hurt or embarrass them. That can be bullying.
Take it out before you ask
Often you can still get help without the private part. Swap a name for "my friend". Swap an email address for [email]. This is called redacting.
The Python below finds an email address in a message and hides it. Press Run. Then add your own made-up message and run it again.
Hide the email address
# A message somebody wants to paste into a chatbot.
message = "Please write to [email protected] about the trip"
safe = []
for word in message.split():
if "@" in word:
# Looks like an email address, so hide it.
safe.append("[email]")
else:
safe.append(word)
print(" ".join(safe))
Worked example: the same question, made safe
| Before | After | What was swapped |
|---|---|---|
| Help me reply to Priya Shah about her party | Help me reply to my friend about her party | A name |
| Write to [email protected] about the trip | Write to [email] about the trip | An email address |
| My login is sunny123, why does it fail? | My login fails, what should I check? | A password |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
A common mistake
Warning
Many people think deleting a chat deletes what they typed. It may not. A copy can stay on the company computers, so the safe time to leave something out is before you send it.
Going further: an app's settings
Many AI apps have settings about what they keep. Some let you turn off saving your chats.
With an adult you trust, look at the settings of one app you use. What does it say it keeps, and can you change it?