How can I avoid sharing too much personal information with AI?

Chatting with an AI assistant feels like a private conversation, but on the other side your messages may be stored, reviewed by people working to improve the system, or used to train future models - depending on the product and how it is set up. It helps to treat a chatbot less like a diary and more like writing to a company: brilliant for the question, but not the place for your secrets.

What to keep out of the chat

Credentials and secrets. Passwords, card numbers, one-time codes, and API keys - never.
Strong identifiers. Your full national ID or passport number, bank details, and home address.
Sensitive personal matters. Health, legal, or financial specifics tied to your name. If you need help with one, strip out the details that identify you.
Other people's information. Do not paste someone else's personal data into a chatbot to ask about them.
Work confidential material. Client data, unreleased plans, or anything under an agreement to keep private - use only the tools your employer has approved.

Tighten the settings

Look for a "use my data to improve the model" or training toggle, and turn it off if you would rather your chats were not used that way.
Turn off or clear chat history where it is offered, and delete conversations you no longer need.
For work, use a business or enterprise tier, which usually keeps your data out of training by default.
Know that "temporary" or "incognito" chats still reach the company's servers - they simply are not saved to your history.

A simple rule

Before you paste something in, ask yourself: would I be comfortable if this were stored on a company's server, or read by a stranger reviewing chats? If not, redact it or leave it out. The AI can almost always help with the question without your name attached to it.