How to Maintain Your Privacy in the Age of AI: Practical Tips

The Wall Street Journal recently published a guide on preserving personal privacy as artificial intelligence tools become part of everyday life. The article highlights how AI-powered services—chatbots, voice assistants, smart home devices—collect and use data in ways that differ from traditional online tracking. For anyone who uses ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, or an Amazon Echo, the advice is worth reading.

Here’s a breakdown of what the WSJ reporting suggests, along with actionable steps you can take now.

What happened

The WSJ piece, written by a technology columnist, examines how AI tools handle user inputs. Unlike a search engine that logs queries and returns links, generative AI models often store and learn from the conversations people have with them. The article points out that many users are unaware of how much data they share when they ask an AI to draft an email, summarize a document, or control their thermostat. The reporting draws on interviews with privacy researchers and company disclosures to map out where the risks lie.

Why it matters

AI privacy is different from the privacy issues most consumers are used to. With a social media platform, you generally know who sees your posts. With an AI assistant, your inputs—including sensitive personal details, work documents, or even medical information—can be used to train the model further unless you opt out. Some services allow human reviewers to read transcripts to improve quality. Others retain data indefinitely. The problem is not that companies are malicious, but that default settings are often designed to maximize data collection, not user protection.

Another concern is lack of control. Once you feed information into a chatbot, you cannot easily delete it or know which copies still exist. The WSJ article notes that privacy policies can be vague, and the technical ability to fully erase data from large language models remains uncertain.

What readers can do

The WSJ guide offers several concrete recommendations. I’ve adapted them into a checklist below.

1. Adjust chatbot settings

Most major AI chatbots allow you to turn off chat history or training on your conversations. For example:

• ChatGPT: Go to Settings > Data controls and disable “Improve the model for everyone.”
• Copilot: In your Microsoft account privacy dashboard, turn off optional data collection.
• Gemini: In the Google Activity settings, stop saving your interactions.

These steps are not perfect, but they reduce the chance that your private messages become part of a training set.

2. Create separate accounts for AI tools

Use a dedicated email address or a “junk” account for signing up. Avoid logging in with your primary Google or Apple ID, which can link AI activity to your full profile.

3. Never share truly sensitive information

The WSJ article is blunt: do not paste passwords, Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, or trade secrets into any AI tool. The model may store that data, and even with deleted history, there is no guarantee it cannot be reconstructed. Treat every typed message as potentially visible to a human reviewer.

4. Review smart home voice assistant settings

Devices like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant record snippets of speech to improve recognition. You can delete voice recordings in the app settings, and some devices allow you to enable a privacy mode that processes requests locally rather than sending them to the cloud. Keep in mind that local processing may reduce functionality.

5. Use a browser with built-in privacy controls

Browsers like Firefox and Brave offer features such as container tabs and anti-fingerprinting that can limit how AI-enhanced websites track you. Also consider installing an extension that blocks unnecessary scripts, but be aware that some privacy tools may break AI features.

6. Read privacy policies—but focus on the data processing section

The WSJ article acknowledges that long legal text is off-putting. Instead, look for two things: what data is collected (especially “conversation logs” or “user prompts”) and whether it is shared with third parties. If the policy says data may be used for “model improvement” without an opt-out, assume your inputs are being absorbed.

7. Turn off optional data sharing for all apps

Many smartphone apps now include machine learning features that upload data to the cloud. Check privacy permissions regularly. For generative AI features inside apps (like photo editing tools that use AI), decide if the convenience justifies the data cost.

Sources

The recommendations above are drawn from:

• “How to Maintain Our Privacy in the AI Age,” The Wall Street Journal (June 23, 2026)
• Privacy settings documentation for OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google (as of June 2026)
• Interviews with consumer privacy advocates referenced in the WSJ piece

A note on limitations: No single setting or habit can guarantee absolute privacy. The companies that develop AI tools have strong incentives to gather data, and regulatory protections are still evolving. The advice here reduces risk but does not eliminate it. Stay informed about updates to privacy policies, as they change frequently.

Balancing the convenience of AI with privacy requires ongoing attention. Start with the settings you can control today, and treat every interaction as if it might be recorded. That simple habit alone will prevent the most common mistakes.