What to keep out of AI chatbots to protect your personal information

(InvestigateTV) — What you type into an AI chatbot can be stored by the company behind it. Depending on the service and your settings, that information may also be used to train AI.

R.J. Cross, a data privacy advocate with U.S. PIRG, said there are other privacy concerns as well.

Cross pointed to recent cases in which information shared with a chatbot appeared elsewhere online.

“Another risk is that it’s possible information you give a chatbot could be surfaced in other people’s google searches,” Cross said.

That has happened with some shared chatbot conversations. It does not mean private chats automatically become public.

Cross said chatbots sometimes tell users when they sign up that their data will be used for training, but not that it will also be stored.

“Sometimes the chatbots will say when you’re signing up for account, hey, we’re going to use your data for training. But it’s not saying this also means we’re going to store your data on our servers and that could be surfaced in other people’s chats or it could be exposed to hack,” Cross said.

Cross recommends keeping sensitive information out of chatbots, including Social Security numbers, medical information and personal documents.

“You don’t want to give it the highly sensitive stuff that you wouldn’t want ending up in the hands of someone else because using those chatbots come with those risks,” Cross said.

Cross also recommends reviewing a chatbot’s privacy settings and limiting the personal details shared about friends and family.