AI Chatbots & Your Privacy
AI chatbots can help you write, summarize, plan and learn. But what you type may be stored, reviewed or used to improve the service, and answers can be wrong or invented. A few simple rules help you get the benefit while limiting the risk.
- Everyone
- Workers
- Parents
What not to share
- Passwords, PINs, security codes and account numbers.
- Social Security, driver's license or passport numbers and other identity details. See Identity Theft.
- Private medical, legal or financial details you wouldn't want stored.
- Customer, employer or project secrets: contracts, plans, bids, pricing, names, safety incident reports, or anything marked confidential. Your employer may ban this entirely. See Remote Work Security.
- Other people's private information without their permission, such as photos of coworkers' faces or personal details.
Protect your account and data
- Read the privacy settings and terms. Find out whether your conversations are saved, used for training or shared, and how to delete them
- Turn off history or training where an option exists, and delete old chats
- Use a strong password and two-step verification. See Two-Factor Authentication
- Use official apps and sites, not look-alike apps or browser extensions that claim to be AI tools. Fake apps can steal data or install malware. See Malware & Antivirus
- Be careful with plug-ins and connections that give the chatbot access to email, files or calendars
Check the answers
- Chatbots can sound sure while being wrong, and may invent facts, laws, citations or links.
- Verify safety, legal, medical and technical information with trusted sources, such as OSHA or a qualified professional, before relying on it. An AI answer is not a substitute for a standard or a qualified person.
- Never use an AI answer as the only basis for a safety decision.
AI-powered scams
- Scammers use AI to write convincing messages, clone voices and make fake videos. A call from "a family member" or "the boss" asking for money may be fake. See Deepfakes & AI Scams.
- Hang up and call back on a known number. Agree on a family safe word.
Children
Check age limits and supervise young users. Talk about not sharing personal details and not trusting every answer. See Kids Online Safety.
Standards & references
Last updated: