Technology

The five things you should never say on ChatGPT and how to resolve if you’ve already said them

People around the world have been flocking to AI chatbots, using them for various applications including getting advice. But careful what info you share.

Dado Ruvic

Greg Heilman

Update: Apr 3rd, 2025 05:25 EDT

The advent of AI chatbots and other artificial intelligence tools has revolutionized how we interact with computers. The humanlike conversations that they can produce are a far cry from systems available just a few years ago.

All the hype around their advanced capabilities has prompted people to flock to them in droves to try them out. From getting help summarizing regulations or drawing up contracts to doing reports for school or creating a love poem, the applications seem endless. People are even turning to AI chatbots for advice, but experts warn about overreliance on these ever more powerful tools.

What to never-ever tell ChatGPT

One thing to begin with is knowing how AI chatbots have gotten so good at what they do. They are trained on mountains of data hoovered off of the internet, but they additionally use the interactions that they have with the people using them.

This should lead you to the obvious, if there is something that you do not want anyone else to know, or only a select group of people, do not share that with an AI chatbot. Here are five examples of things that should never ever be shared with a tool like ChatGPT according to cybersecurity firm AgileBlue.

Personal identifiable information

Hackers are always looking for as many data points on potential victims as possible, so the gravity of sharing it with ChatGPT “cannot be overstated.” AI chatbots are susceptible to data theft because of their vulnerability to breaches, the consequences of which for users can be nightmarish.

So never share your full name, date of birth, address, phone number, email address and absolutely not your Social Security number.

Passwords and login credentials

Just as you don’t want your private identifiable information for the whole world to potentially have access to, you definitely don’t want the digital keys to your online accounts and personal information possibly floating around on the world wide web. For that reason AgileBlue says that it is “essential” to not share passwords or login credentials as it “opens the door for unauthorized access by malicious entities.”

Private or confidential information

Likewise, you should never share personal secrets, intimate details, or confidential work-related information to AI systems. Nor should you seek health advice from AI chatbots, something that one in five Americans has already done according to a New York Post report citing Cleveland Clinic data. If this kind of information gets into the wrong hands it “can lead to unintended exposure, compromising our privacy and reputation,” warns the cybersecurity firm.

Financial and Banking Information

AgileBlue cautions that “the realm of financial and banking information is particularly sensitive, and it must never be divulged to ChatGPT or any AI system for that matter.” The potential consequences of a malicious actor getting your credit card numbers, bank account credentials, and other payment details “are alarming.”

Proprietary or intellectual property

“Intellectual property, including proprietary information, patented ideas, copyrighted material, and trade secrets, represents the creative and innovative endeavors of individuals and organizations” explains AgileBlue. Sharing this information with artificial intelligence risks potential theft or unauthorized dissemination and use, which can lead to a whole host of adverse consequences.

What can you do if you’ve already shared information with ChatGPT

While it’s not guaranteed that the AI chatbot system will store your data, or use it to train new models, treat it as if it will. One rule of thumb is to remember that whatever you put on the internet lives on forever in the ether.

One thing you can do to improve the chances that your information could potentially be taken off the AI chatbots servers if you’ve shared it already is to delete all the conversations that you’ve had with it.

In general, it’s also recommended to regularly delete your conversations with chatbots. Additionally, for more security around your data, you should use temporary chats which is similar to using the ‘incognito mode’ on your browser