AI and your work · 5 min read
Should you paste work information into AI?
A calm, practical answer to the question every professional should ask before trusting these tools with real work.
Pausing before you paste is a good instinct. The short answer: treat a public AI chatbot like a postcard, not a locked drawer.
The simple rule
If you'd be uncomfortable seeing it forwarded outside your company, don't paste it into a free, personal AI account. Client names, unreleased numbers, employee details, anything under an NDA — keep those out.
Assume anything typed into a personal AI account could be stored or reviewed to improve the service. Many tools let you turn that off — but assume the postcard rule until you've checked your settings.
How to get the help without the risk
- Anonymize — swap real names and numbers for placeholders, then put the specifics back in yourself afterward.
- Ask what's approved — many employers now offer a private, enterprise version that's safe for internal data.
- Use it for the shape, not the secrets — it's great for structuring an email or document without the sensitive details in it.
None of this means avoid AI at work. It means being the adult in the room about what you feed it.
The one thing to do
Postcard, not a locked drawer. Anonymize the sensitive bits, or use the private version your employer approves — then use AI freely for everything else.
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