Safety, Privacy, and Responsible Use of ChatGPT By the end of this lesson, students should be able to: The default posture: semi-public. When you type something into ChatGPT, treat it as you would a note written on a company whiteboard: visible, retained in some form, and potentially reviewed. Not a reason to avoid ChatGPT â€" a reason to be intentional about what you share. The six categories. Category 1 â€" Personal identification information. Never paste: Social Security numbers, passport numbers, driver's license numbers, government ID numbers. Category 2 â€" Financial account details. Never paste: Bank account numbers, credit card numbers, routing numbers, investment account details, PINs. Category 3 â€" Passwords, credentials, and access tokens. Never paste: Any password, login credential, API key, or security token. No legitimate use case requires sharing a password with an AI assistant. Category 4 â€" Protected health information. Never paste: Medical records, prescription details, therapy notes, insurance claims, or health information that identifies a specific individual. Category 5 â€" Confidential business and organizational information. Apply judgment: avoid pasting proprietary product designs, unreleased financial results, strategic plans not yet public, legally privileged communications, or client data not yours to share. Before pasting any work document, ask: would I be comfortable if my organization's legal team could see this in an AI system? Category 6 â€" Other people's private information without their knowledge. Pasting someone else's personal information â€" their salary, their medical history, their private communications â€" without their knowledge raises ethical and potentially legal concerns. Special consideration for ChatGPT file upload and Advanced Data Analysis. ChatGPT Plus users can upload files directly â€" including PDFs, spreadsheets, and documents. The same six categories apply. Before uploading any file for analysis: scan it for sensitive information embedded in places you might overlook, such as Social Security numbers in signature blocks or personal information in footnotes. The anonymization technique. Replace specific identifying details with generic placeholders: Instead of: "My client, [Name] at [Company], signed a $450,000 contract on [date]…" Use: "A client in the [industry] sector signed a contract for approximately $X in [quarter]…" The analytical task almost never requires the identifying details. Anonymize first. Enroll to continue this lesson. The preview above shows the lesson objectives and opening lesson content. Enroll to view the full lesson, complete the practice work, and take the lesson quiz.
Lesson 1: What Not to Share — Six Categories of Information to Keep Out of ChatGPT
Lesson Objectives
Lesson Content
