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Privacy & Safety Basics

Cody Simpson

— 2 min read
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Privacy & Safety Basics
Photo by Omar:. Lopez-Rincon / Unsplash

You don't need to be paranoid about AI — but you do need a few ground rules, the same way you'd have ground rules for email or online banking.

The Golden Rule

Don't type anything into an AI chat that you wouldn't be okay with a stranger reading.

Most AI companies use conversations to improve their systems unless you've turned that off in settings, and mistakes happen. Treat it like a semi-public notebook, not a locked diary.

Keep these out of AI chats

  • Full Social Security numbers, account numbers, or passwords
  • Medical records with identifying details (your name + full history together)
  • Anything you're legally required to keep confidential (work-related, if your employer has policies — check first)
  • Photos of IDs, cards, or documents with sensitive info visible
  • Details that could identify someone else without their okay (a friend's private situation, a coworker's personal issue)

Perfectly fine to share

  • General questions ("how do 15-year mortgages work")
  • Drafts of things you plan to say publicly anyway (emails, posts, letters)
  • Non-identifying versions of a real situation ("a family member is dealing with X — general advice for that")
  • Documents you own and want summarized (just skip anything with SSNs/account numbers first)

Two habits that cover almost everything

  1. Swap in placeholders for sensitive specifics. Instead of your real account number, type "[account number]" — the AI can still help with the surrounding text.
  2. Check your privacy settings once. Most AI tools let you turn off "use my chats to improve the model." Takes two minutes, worth doing.

One more thing: verify before you act

This isn't really a privacy issue, but it belongs here — AI can sound completely confident and still be wrong. Before you act on anything with real consequences (money, health, legal), double-check it against a real source: your bank, your doctor, an actual document. Lesson 2 already covered which tasks need this — this is just the safety net.

Quick recap

Would a stranger reading this bother you? → If yes, don't type it in

Sensitive numbers → Use placeholders instead

Privacy settings → Turn off chat-training use once, in settings

High-stakes info → Verify with a real source before acting

Next up — Lesson 5: Your First 3 Real Tasks, where you'll actually use everything from Lessons 1-4 on something real.

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