Guide
What Not to Put Into AI Tools at Work
A practical safe-use guide for small businesses and teams. Knowing what to keep out of AI tools is just as important as knowing how to use them.
Data to keep out of AI tools
These types of information should not be entered into public or unapproved AI tools without careful consideration.
Personal data
Names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and identification numbers of customers, staff or anyone else.
Customer data
Contact lists, purchase histories, account details or any information shared with you in confidence.
Confidential documents
Draft contracts, proposals under discussion, legal correspondence and commercially sensitive strategy notes.
Client-owned information
Data or documents that belong to your clients and have not been explicitly cleared for external tool use.
Passwords, API keys and secrets
Credentials, tokens, access keys and any other secrets used to access systems or services.
Financial information
Bank details, payroll data, tax information and any financial records that could be misused.
Legal or HR-sensitive content
Disciplinary records, grievance notes, references and anything related to employment disputes.
How to sanitise information before using AI
If you need to use AI with real work data, remove or replace anything that identifies a person, organisation or account. Use anonymised examples. Check the output does not contain anything you did not intend to share. Apply the same caution you would apply to any external service.
Human review and approval
AI outputs can contain mistakes, biases or information that does not apply to your situation. Always review AI-generated content before using it in customer communications, business decisions or formal documentation. A human check is not optional.
This guide provides practical safety guidance for small businesses. It is not legal advice and should be reviewed alongside your own legal, data protection and compliance obligations.
Need help with AI governance?
WorkFlint can help you create simple, practical AI usage rules for your team.