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AI Unlocked
Your trusted guide on the AI journey
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Issue #16 • October 6, 2026
What Should You Share with AI? One Simple Rule.
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Last week I told you to take out your name, address and card numbers before pasting a suspicious email into AI. I didn't tell you why. Here's why.
When you type into ChatGPT or any AI tool, your words don't stay on your computer. They go to the company that runs it. There they're saved, they may be used to help improve the AI, and now and then a person at the company may read a sample to check quality.
That doesn't mean someone is watching you. It means what you type is no longer only yours. So think of AI as a helpful stranger who takes notes.
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The One Rule
If you wouldn't hand it to a stranger, don't type it into AI.
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Green, Yellow, Red
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Green: go ahead. Recipes, trip ideas, how something works, rewording a letter. Most of what you'd ask AI lives here.
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Yellow: share the situation, not the details. A health question, a family matter, your budget. Leave out the names and numbers. "A relative in her eighties is having trouble with balance" gets just as good an answer.
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Red: never. Social Security and Medicare numbers, bank and card numbers, passwords, and other people's private information.
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This Week's Tip
You get a say in how your chats are used.
In ChatGPT, click your name at the bottom left, then Settings, then Data controls. The switch called Improve the model for everyone decides whether your chats help train the AI.
Leaving it on is a fair choice. Turn it off when you want more privacy. Either way, now you know where it is.
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Want the full picture? This week's Go-Deeper Guide walks you through that setting with screenshots, shows where to find it in Gemini and Claude, covers photos and voice, and ends with a one-page checklist to print.
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Read the Go-Deeper Guide →
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None of this is a reason to stay away from AI. Your email provider and your phone already know plenty about you. Keep the red list in mind, and use AI freely for everything else.
Stay curious.
Gary
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AI Unlocked | Your trusted guide on the AI journey
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