How to use an AI assistant without exposing your personal data
Basic rule: never submit to a consumer AI any data you would not publish. Check whether your conversations are used for training and disable that option when available, never enter social security numbers, health data, or information about third parties. GDPR applies fully to AI services.
The basic rule boils down to one sentence: never submit to a consumer AI anything you would not publish. Depending on the service and your settings, your conversations may be stored, reviewed for moderation purposes, and used to train future models. The General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, applies fully to AI services as soon as they process personal data, and gives you rights. But you still need to adopt the right reflexes upfront.
What not to share
Do not enter sensitive data: social security number, bank details, health data, passwords, ID documents. Do not enter information about third parties without authorization, as you are putting their privacy at stake just as much as your own. In a professional context, do not submit confidential data belonging to your employer or clients to an unapproved tool, as this may violate your obligations.
Settings that protect
Look in the service settings for the option to exclude your conversations from training. Many services now offer this. Disable it if you do not want your exchanges to feed future models.
Check conversation history retention and delete anything that does not need to be kept. Some services offer temporary modes with no storage.
Read the privacy policy to identify the data controller, purposes, and your rights.
Your rights under the GDPR
The GDPR, EU regulation 2016/679, gives you rights of access, rectification, erasure, objection, and restriction regarding your personal data, including with AI services. The CNIL, the French data protection authority, has published specific recommendations on AI system compliance with the GDPR and can be contacted in case of violations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are my conversations read by humans?
They may be for moderation and improvement purposes, depending on the service. Hence the importance of not putting anything sensitive in them.
Can I have my data deleted?
Yes, the GDPR provides a right to erasure, to be exercised with the data controller.
Are local AIs safer?
A model running on your own hardware does not send your data to a third party, offering better protection when properly implemented.
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