AI Is Getting Too Personal? Here’s What Privacy Experts Actually Use to Stay Safe
If you’ve recently used a chatbot, searched for a product online, or even just scrolled through social media, you’ve probably noticed that AI feels more attentive than before. It suggests messages, summarizes your emails, and sometimes seems to know what you were about to type. That attentiveness comes from data—your data—and it’s making more people uneasy. A recent VICE article highlighted that even tech experts, people who build and understand these systems, are quietly buying tools and adopting habits to limit how much personal information AI can grab. This article walks you through the same tools and habits they use, without the hype.
What Happened
In late April 2026, VICE published a story titled “AI Is Getting Creepy—Here’re What Tech Experts Are Buying to Stay Private.” The piece reported on a growing trend among privacy-conscious engineers, developers, and security researchers: they’re spending money on specific products and services to lock down their digital lives. The timing matters. As generative AI becomes embedded in everything from search engines to office software, the amount of personal data flowing into corporate training sets has skyrocketed. Experts—who understand exactly how that data is used—are taking steps that most people don’t even know exist.
Why It Matters
The concern isn’t just that AI services can read your public posts or emails. It’s that data can be collected passively: your browsing history, location pings, contacts, and even the metadata of your messages. Companies train large language models on this data, sometimes without explicit consent, and those models can later generate responses that reveal personal details or replicate your writing style. While no single tool makes you invisible, a layered approach dramatically reduces your exposure. The good news: many of these tools are cheap or free, and the habits are easy to adopt once you understand them.
What Readers Can Do
Below are five tools and three habits that privacy experts commonly use. The list isn’t exhaustive, but it covers the most practical steps you can take today.
Tools Experts Rely On
1. Privacy-focused browsers and search engines
Browsers like Brave block trackers and ads by default. DuckDuckGo also offers a private search engine that doesn’t build a profile of your queries. They won’t stop every form of AI data collection, but they significantly reduce the amount of behavioral data sent to advertisers and model trainers.
2. Encrypted communication apps
Signal remains the gold standard for encrypted messaging. It uses end-to-end encryption for texts and calls, collects almost no metadata, and is open source. For more anonymity, some experts use Session, which doesn’t even require a phone number. The catch: both you and the person you’re talking to need to use the same app.
3. VPNs and DNS filtering
A VPN hides your IP address and encrypts your internet traffic. Look for a service with a strict no-logs policy, such as Mullvad or ProtonVPN. Pair it with a DNS-level blocker like NextDNS to stop trackers before they reach your device. This won’t make you anonymous, but it does make it harder for AI services to link your activity across sites.
4. Hardware solutions
Simple physical blockers—webcam covers, microphone kill switches, or even separate USB microphone controls—prevent any software from surreptitiously recording you. These are cheap and effective against any kind of surveillance, not just AI.
5. Data deletion services and permission management
Tools like DeleteMe or Privacy Bee help you remove your personal information from data broker sites that supply training datasets. On your phone, regularly review app permissions and revoke access to contacts, location, and microphone for apps that don’t need them. Apple and Android both let you see which apps have accessed your data in the last week.
Simple Habits That Help
Compartmentalize your online activities
Use separate browsers or profiles for work, shopping, and social media. That way, an AI scraping one part of your life can’t easily connect it to another. Similarly, create a burner email account for newsletter signups and one-time services.
Limit what you share with AI assistants
When you use a chatbot, assume everything you type could be stored and used. Don’t paste sensitive documents or personal details unless you’re sure the service offers a “no training” option. Many providers now let you opt out of data use in their settings.
Audit your digital footprint quarterly
Set a reminder to check where your data lives. Search for yourself, review your social media privacy settings, and delete old accounts you no longer use. It’s tedious, but it’s one of the most effective ways to starve AI models of your personal information.
A Realistic Trade-Off
Adopting these tools comes with small inconveniences. Encrypted messaging only works if your contacts switch too. A VPN can slow down your connection slightly. Data deletion services cost money. The goal isn’t perfect privacy—that’s nearly impossible in 2026. It’s about making your data less accessible and less valuable to the systems that collect it. You don’t have to do everything. Even picking two or three of these steps will put you ahead of most people.
Sources and Further Reading
- “AI Is Getting Creepy—Here’s What Tech Experts Are Buying to Stay Private,” VICE, April 2026.
- Electronic Frontier Foundation (eff.org) – surveillance self-defense guides.
- PrivacyTools.io – community-maintained list of privacy software and services.
- Pew Research Center – “Experts Say the ‘New Normal’ in 2025 Will Be Far More Tech-Driven” (February 2021) for context on long-term trends.
The tools and habits above are based on current expert consensus as of 2026. Privacy landscapes shift quickly, so it’s worth checking these recommendations periodically. Start small, stay skeptical, and keep your data yours.