AI Privacy and Safety Basics
Lesson 3: Privacy Settings and Safer AI Habits
Lesson Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students should be able to:
- Explain in plain words what an AI tool may keep after a conversation.
- Find history, memory, and training-data settings in an AI tool they use.
- Apply five everyday habits that reduce privacy risk.
Lesson Content
When you type into an AI tool, your words travel to the company's servers. Depending on the tool and your settings, the company may keep your chats as history, use them to improve its models, or remember facts about you for later chats. These settings are different in every product and they change, so learn where to find them rather than memorizing them.
Three settings to look for (names vary by tool):
- Chat history: whether your conversations are saved and shown in a sidebar.
- Memory or personalization: whether the AI remembers facts about you across chats. You can usually view and delete what it remembers.
- Model training or data controls: whether your chats may be used to improve the AI. Many tools let you opt out.
Some tools also offer a temporary or incognito-style chat that is not saved to history. Work and school accounts often have different rules set by your organization.
Five safer habits:
- Use placeholders for names, numbers, and addresses.
- Never paste passwords, full card numbers, or government ID numbers.
- Check your tool's data settings once, today, and again after big updates.
- Delete chats that contained something you should not have shared, and review saved memories.
- For work, follow your employer's AI policy and use approved tools.
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