The Truth About AI and Privacy: 5 Things You Should Never Share With a Chatbot

AI chatbots and assistants have become everyday tools for drafting emails, brainstorming ideas, and even getting personal advice. Their convenience is undeniable. But the trade-off is less obvious: every conversation you have with an AI is data that the company behind it stores, analyzes, and sometimes uses to train future models. Understanding where that data goes—and what you should avoid typing—is essential for protecting your privacy.

How AI Companies Handle Your Data

When you use a service like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Copilot, your input is sent to servers owned by the provider. According to the privacy policies of major AI companies (which vary and change frequently), this data can be used for:

Training and improving models – Conversations are often reviewed by human trainers to refine responses. Many platforms allow you to opt out, but the default setting usually includes training use.
Storage and retention – Logs of your chats can be kept for months or even years, even after you delete individual conversations.
Sharing with third parties – In some cases, data may be shared with contractors or cloud service providers for moderation or security purposes.

The key point: these policies are not always transparent, and they can be updated without explicit notice. If you share sensitive information, you are effectively trusting that the company will never suffer a breach, misuse your data internally, or change its terms in a way that harms you.

Real-World Privacy Incidents

Past incidents show that this trust can be misplaced. In 2023, a bug in ChatGPT exposed users’ chat histories to other users. In other cases, accidental inclusion of sensitive data in training sets has led to confidential information appearing in public responses. Companies also face legal requests for user data—if you share something incriminating or private, it could theoretically be subject to a subpoena.

These are not hypothetical risks. They are consequences of the fact that AI tools are not designed to be confidential vaults. They are services built to improve through exposure to user data.

Passwords, security codes, or authentication details
No AI tool has a legitimate need for your passwords. Entering them anywhere is a direct security risk. If a chatbot asks for a password, that request is almost certainly a phishing attempt.
Financial account numbers, credit card details, and bank PINs
Even if you are asking for budgeting advice, never type real account numbers. The same goes for Social Security numbers, tax IDs, or other government identifiers.
Medical information that could identify you
While you might discuss symptoms for general guidance, do not include your full name, address, or health insurance numbers. Many AI companies claim not to treat health data specially, meaning it could be handled like any other text.
Confidential work documents or trade secrets
Some companies explicitly forbid employees from pasting proprietary code, business strategies, or client lists into public AI tools. Even with enterprise versions, the data typically flows through the provider’s servers, and contractual protections are not always ironclad.
Private conversations or details about other people
Do not share other people’s personal information without their consent. That includes family members, colleagues, or anyone whose privacy you do not have the right to expose.

Practical Steps to Protect Your Privacy

Turn off chat history and training opt-in – Most major platforms (ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot) offer settings to disable history saving and prevent your data from being used for training. Enable these if privacy is a concern.
Use a disposable email account – Create a separate account for AI tools that is not linked to your real identity or primary email.
Avoid logging in with personal credentials – Do not connect your Google, Apple, or Microsoft account to AI tools unless you need the integration. Use the standalone account instead.
Assume everything is recorded – The safest mindset is that anything you type could be read by a human, stored indefinitely, or leaked. If you would not post it on a public forum, do not type it into a chatbot.
Check privacy policies periodically – AI companies update their terms frequently. A setting that protected you last year may have changed.

Staying Informed Without Paranoia

None of this means you should avoid AI tools entirely. They can be immensely useful for non-sensitive tasks like summarising public information, drafting neutral text, or getting creative inspiration. The goal is to be aware of the data flow and to make conscious choices about what you share. Privacy is not an all-or-nothing proposition; it is a series of small decisions that add up over time.

Sources

This article draws on publicly available privacy policies from OpenAI (ChatGPT), Google (Gemini), and Microsoft (Copilot) as of early 2025, along with reported security incidents such as the 2023 ChatGPT data leak. For the latest information, readers should consult each company’s official privacy and security documentation. Privacy settings and data handling practices are subject to change, so verification is recommended.