AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude are brilliant for getting things done faster — drafting social media posts, writing proposals, summarising spreadsheets. But before you dive in, there’s one habit worth building first: thinking about what you’re actually pasting into these tools.
Because here’s the thing — when you type or paste something into an AI tool, that information is being sent to a server somewhere. And depending on your settings, it might be used to train the AI’s next model. That’s fine when you’re asking it to write a blog post about gardening tips. It’s not so fine when you’ve just pasted in a client’s invoice with their name, address and how much they owe you.
What NOT to Paste In
The simplest rule of thumb: would you be okay with this appearing in a screenshot? If the answer is no, don’t paste it in. Here are the big ones to watch out for:
- Client names alongside financial details – Invoices, amounts owed, payment histories. “Client A owes Amount X” is fine. “Jane Smith of 42 Main Street owes $3,200” is not.
- Passwords, API keys or licence numbers – It sounds obvious, but it’s easy to accidentally include these when you’re copying chunks of text or code.
- Health information – Yours, your staff’s, or your clients’. This is particularly important for anyone in allied health, aged care, disability services or fitness.
- Full customer lists or databases – Copying your entire mailing list into an AI tool is a privacy risk you don’t want to take.
- Anything covered by an NDA or confidentiality agreement – If you’ve signed a confidentiality agreement, the information it covers shouldn’t be going into any AI tool.
What You CAN Do Instead
This isn’t about avoiding AI altogether — it’s about using it smartly. Here are some simple workarounds:
- Swap out the real details – Instead of “Send a follow-up invoice to Jane Smith for the $3,200 website build,” try “Draft a follow-up invoice email for a client who owes $X for a August hours.” The AI doesn’t need the real names or figures to give you a great draft.
- Use AI for drafting, brainstorming and summarising public information – These are all low-risk, high-reward tasks that don’t involve sensitive data.
- Use temporary or incognito chats for one-off sensitive queries – Most AI tools offer a temporary chat mode where your conversation isn’t saved or used for training.
- Always review AI output before sending – AI can get things wrong, facts, figures, tone. A read-through before you hit send is always a good idea, regardless of the privacy angle.
Your Ten-Minute Safety Setup
There are a few settings worth checking when you first set up your AI account. Do these once and every conversation after that is safer.
1. Turn Off Training on Your Data
Most AI tools give you the option to stop your conversations being used to train future models. In ChatGPT, head to Settings → Data Controls. In Claude, check your plan’s data settings — Business and Team plans have stronger privacy defaults built in.
2. Turn On Two-Factor Authentication
You’d do this for your internet banking, so do it for your AI accounts too. A unique password and two-factor authentication go a long way. Treat your AI account like any other business tool.
3. Audit Your Integrations
Check what’s connected to your AI account — email, calendar, file storage. If you’ve connected something you’re not actively using, disconnect it. The fewer doors open, the better.
4. Check Your Account Settings
Take two minutes to review your privacy, data retention, personalisation and history settings. Most of these are buried in a settings menu, but it’s worth the scroll.
It’s Not Scary — It’s Just a Habit
At first this may feel complicated, but with practice and use you’ll become familiar with it. It’s really just habit — pause for a second before you paste – and a ten-minute setup you only need to do once. After that, you can get on with using AI to do all the brilliant things it’s good at, without worrying about what you might have accidentally shared.
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