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Privacy guides for everyday tasks
How do you keep private data out of an AI chat? To keep private data out of an AI chat, do not paste a password, an ID number, a health or bank detail, or a confidential work or school file. Turn off model training in ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini when your account shows that switch. Use the work or school account when the words belong to an employer, a client, or a class. The switch does not make a secret safe to paste.
Next step: open Keep your data private with AI and do Step 1.
All of the moves are on Become an AI Director.
Which guide should I open first?
Start with Keep your data private with AI. It is the do-not-paste list, then the real settings path in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Copilot, then the choice between a personal account and a work or school account. Do Step 1 before you open a chat with anything sensitive.
Open Keep your data private with AI
What should you know before you start?
The do-not-paste list is short on purpose. Passwords, one-time codes, government ID numbers, card and bank numbers, health records, and a file that belongs to a client, a customer, a patient, or a student stay out. So does anything marked confidential. If the task needs that fact, you do that step yourself, or you use the tool your employer or school approved.
Training settings are not the same switch in every app. ChatGPT calls it Improve the model for everyone, under Settings, then Data controls. Claude's consumer switch is Help improve our AI models, under Settings, then Privacy. Gemini's personal switch is Keep Activity. Copilot's newer personal app says prompts are not used to train foundation models, and the current privacy page does not name a training toggle. Open the help page linked from the guide if your screen looks different.
A work or school plan is the right place when the material is not yours. OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Microsoft say those plans are not used to train their models by default. Your admin can still see a work chat. A personal account is not a way around a company rule. For an agent that can send mail or touch files, read Hand a task to an AI agent and keep send and pay behind your approval.
Which guides are on this page?
What else is close to this?
Hand a task to an AI agent · Custom instructions · Use AI at work · ChatGPT · Prompts
Common questions
These are the questions people ask before they open a guide.
Is a training switch the same as privacy?
No. It tells the company not to use new chats to train the model, when their page says that. They can still store a chat, review some chats for safety, and let an employer read a work account. Do not paste a secret because the switch is off.
What if I already pasted something I should not have?
Delete that chat in the product, if the product lets you. Do not paste it again. If it was someone else's confidential file, tell the person who owns the data. This page cannot undo a paste.
Do I need a paid plan to be careful?
No. Leaving the secret out works on a free chat. A work or school plan is for material that belongs to that organization, and for the training promise that organization publishes. Check the current help page. This site does not list a price.
Can I put my rules in custom instructions?
Yes, the rules. No, the secrets. A standing note is reused on later chats. Tell the chat what to refuse. Do not store a password there so you do not have to type it.