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Jonathan Flower
Jonathan Flower

Posted on • Originally published at blog.jonathanflower.com on

AI and Sensitive Data: A Guide to Protect your Data

Privacy and security come at the cost of convenience. Here is a guide to help you safeguard your data appropriately.

Level 1: ChatGPT Temporary Chat

Image description

The Promise:

This chat won’t appear in history, use or create memories, or be used to train our models. For safety purposes, we may keep a copy for up to 30 days.

Why It Matters: Temporary chats provide a layer of privacy by ensuring your conversations are not stored long-term or used for model training. This reduces the risk of data breaches and enhances your control over personal information.

Level 2: ChatGPT for Teams

https://openai.com/chatgpt/team

The Promise:

We never train on your data or conversations.

Why It Matters: For collaborative environments, ChatGPT for Teams offers a secure solution where your data remains private and is not utilized for training AI models. This ensures confidential business information stays within your organization.

Level 3: Azure AI

Data, privacy, and security for Azure OpenAI Service – Azure AI services

Why It Matters: Microsoft’s Azure AI provides extensive controls and guarantees around security and privacy, offering enterprise-grade protection. With robust compliance certifications, Azure ensures that your data is handled with the highest standards of security.

Level 4: Local AI Models

Running AI locally can significantly enhance your privacy. Here are some excellent options:

Why It Matters: Using local models ensures your data never leaves your device, reducing the risk of interception or misuse. This layer is particularly beneficial for those handling highly sensitive information.

Additionally, Microsoft is innovating with Copilot+ PCs, betting big on running more AI locally to enhance privacy

Level 5: Hacker Proof

While local processing minimizes external threats, securing your hardware is paramount. If your device is compromised, no software solution can fully protect your data.

The Simplest Solution:

  • Dedicated AI Computer: Use a separate computer exclusively for AI tasks, disconnected from the internet.
  • Faraday Cage: For ultimate security, place the device in a Faraday cage to block any wireless signals.
  • Data Transfer: Use a USB drive to transfer data to and from this secure computer.

Why It Matters: This setup ensures that your AI processing environment is isolated from network-based threats, offering the highest level of security for your sensitive operations.


It has been my pleasure to guide you and empower you to work confidently and securely with AI.

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