Is this safe to paste?

Ask these before you paste anything into an AI tool: a chat, an assistant in your email or documents, a meeting bot. It takes under a minute. Answer honestly. Nobody sees your answers but you.

All the questions

1. 1. Does it include anything on the never-paste card?

   Passwords or keys, card or bank numbers, health records, employee records, unreleased financials, or regulated data like CUI.

   If yes, Don't paste it. If no, go to question 2.

2. 2. Does it name or identify a real person?

   A customer, client, patient, member or colleague: names, emails, phone numbers, addresses, account numbers.

   If yes, go to question 3. If no, go to question 4.

3. 3. Could you do the job with those details swapped for placeholders?

   “Customer A” instead of a name, “[EMAIL]” instead of an address. Most drafting and summarising works fine this way.

   If yes, Remove the details, then paste. If no, go to question 5.

4. 4. Is it confidential to your employer, a client or a partner?

   Anything under an NDA or contract, internal plans, prices, code that isn't public, or anything marked confidential.

   If yes, go to question 5. If no, go to question 6.

5. 5. Is the tool approved for this kind of information?

   Your employer or client has said yes to this tool for this information, and you're signed in with that account, not a personal one. Working for yourself: you've read the plan's terms and they fit what you promised your clients.

   If yes, Use the approved tool, and only that one. If no, Don't paste it.

6. 6. Would it be a problem if this ended up public, with your name on it?

   If you'd be uncomfortable seeing it in a newspaper or a competitor's inbox, treat it as confidential.

   If yes, go to question 5. If no, Go ahead.

Where you can end up

An approved tool means one your employer or client has said yes to for this kind of information. Working for yourself, read your plan's terms: whether it keeps what you type, and whether it trains on it.