Artificial intelligence tools are quickly becoming part of everyday work. Many employees now use AI to help draft emails, summarize documents, brainstorm ideas, or simplify complex tasks.

Tools like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Google Gemini can save a lot of time and make work easier. When they’re using chatbots like these, however, there’s one important rule that every employee should remember: Not everything belongs inside an AI prompt.

Many people don’t realize that pasting certain types of information into AI tools can create serious security and privacy risks. Even if the goal is just to make work easier, the wrong information in the wrong place can expose sensitive company data. While AI can be an incredibly powerful productivity assistant, protecting company data is everyone’s responsibility. That means you need to understand what to share, and what to keep private, from chatbots and other AI tools.

Here’s a simple guide to the types of information you should never paste into AI systems that you use at work.

Protecting Client Data

Customer information should always be treated as sensitive. Their PII (personally identifiable information) is protected under myriad data privacy laws, which means you cannot share their information with unauthorized, outside parties.

This includes things like:

  • Names and contact information
  • Addresses
  • Phone numbers
  • Email addresses
  • Account details
  • Personal identification information

For example, it may be tempting to paste a customer email thread into an AI tool and ask it to summarize the conversation or draft a response. Doing so, however, may expose private customer data to systems outside your company’s control. You don’t know who can see the data fed into the chatbot, or whether the AI will repeat that information to another user.

When customer information is involved, it’s best to keep that data inside approved company tools and systems!

Securing Passwords or Login Credentials

This one might sound obvious, but it still happens more often than you’d think.

Employees sometimes paste things like:

  • Temporary passwords
  • System login information
  • API keys
  • Wi-Fi credentials

…while asking AI for help troubleshooting a login issue or configuring software. Just like with client PII, you can immediately see the problem: Passwords should never be shared anywhere except secure password management systems.

If login information is exposed, it could give a third party unauthorized access to company systems, customer data, or internal tools.

Managing Financial Information

If you handle financial data, or even while you’re considering your own banking information, then you also need to keep that information away from chatbot inquiries and other conversations with AI.

Examples include:

  • Banking details
  • Credit card numbers
  • Payroll information
  • Budget spreadsheets
  • Revenue reports
  • Vendor payment details

Even something as simple as pasting a financial spreadsheet into an AI tool for analysis could expose confidential business information. Financial data especially should always stay within secure company-approved platforms.

Safeguarding Internal Company Documents

Many employees use AI to summarize long documents or rewrite reports. While this can be helpful, it becomes risky when internal company materials are involved.

Examples of sensitive internal documents include:

  • Contracts or agreements
  • Business strategies
  • Internal reports
  • HR documents
  • Product plans
  • Meeting notes containing confidential discussions

Once information is pasted into an external tool, your lose visibility into where that data goes or how long it is stored there.

A good rule of thumb: If the document isn’t meant to be public, it probably shouldn’t go into an AI prompt.

Why Does AI Security Matter?

Most employees use chatbots and LLMs with good intentions. They simply want to work faster and more efficiently, which AI facilitates. The downside is that these tools are often powered by systems that process information outside your company’s internal digital environment. That means external platforms, servers, or data centers handle the confidential data that your company (and you, by extension) has sworn to protect.

This doesn’t mean AI tools are unsafe. It just means they need to be used responsibly.

If you’re ever unsure whether something belongs in an AI prompt, ask yourself one question: “Would this information be safe to share outside the company?”

If the answer is no, then don’t enter it into an AI tool.

Used the right way, AI can make work easier. Used carelessly, it can accidentally create serious security risks. Do your part to protect company secrets while completing your work as efficiently as ever.