What not to paste into an AI chat: a small business checklist

Five minutes of setup that protects your customers and your business.

Written by Tauri on 17 August 2026. About 4 minutes to read.

AI tools are only as safe as the way you use them. The good news is that a few habits cover nearly every risk a small business faces.

Check your settings once

Find out whether your plan uses your chats to train models, and switch it off if you can.
Turn on two-factor login. Your chat history is now a record of your business.
If staff use AI, decide which accounts and tools they should use — and write it down.

Never paste

Passwords, API keys or bank details.
Customers' payment card numbers or ID documents.
Health, financial or other sensitive details about identifiable people.
Anything you've signed an agreement to keep confidential.

Usually fine with care

Your own drafts, policies and product information.
Customer messages with names and contact details removed.
Anonymised numbers, like monthly sales without client names.

Anonymise before you paste

Rewrite the text below, replacing every person's name with a role (Customer, Supplier), and removing emails, phone numbers, addresses and order numbers. Keep everything else the same.

[PASTE TEXT]

Always check before you act

AI can be confidently wrong, especially about laws, tax and prices. Treat its output as a first draft from a fast, well-meaning assistant — and keep the final decision with a human.