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Should I paste this into AI?
The 10-second gut check that keeps your data (and your clients') safe — plus how to lock down your accounts and spot the AI scams that are getting scarily good.
🚦 The paste test — before you hit enter
🔴 Never paste
- Passwords, PINs, or API keys
- Social Security / national ID, bank or card numbers
- Client or employer confidential info you didn't get permission to share
- Health records or anyone else's private personal data
- Anything covered by an NDA
🟡 Pause & check first
- Proprietary work, unpublished ideas, or draft strategy
- Customer lists or internal numbers → anonymize first
- Anything on a free tier — check if the tool trains on your inputs (turn training off where you can)
- Work data → confirm your company has an AI policy that allows it
🟢 Go for it
- Public information & general questions
- Your own drafts, notes, and ideas
- Redacted / anonymized examples (swap real names & numbers for placeholders)
The rule of thumb: if you'd be uncomfortable seeing it on a billboard, don't paste it raw. Anonymize, or don't share it.
🔒 Lock down your accounts
- Strong, unique passwords on every AI account (use a password manager)
- Turn on 2-factor authentication (2FA) everywhere it's offered
- Check your data settings — opt out of "improve the model / train on my chats" where possible
- Delete sensitive chats after you're done with them
- Keep keys in a manager, never in a screenshot, a doc, or a prompt
- Review connected apps & integrations — remove ones you don't use
🕵️ Spot the AI scam / deepfake
- Urgency is a red flag — "act now, don't tell anyone" is how scams work
- Verify unexpected requests for money or info through a different channel (call the person)
- A voice or video can be faked — agree on a family/team "safe word" for real emergencies
- Check the source — hover links, look at the real sender address, be skeptical of "too perfect"
- AI can be confidently wrong — verify facts, prices, and quotes before you rely on them
✍️ My personal AI rules
Write your own 3 non-negotiables: