Practical guidance for using AI with client information while protecting confidentiality, privacy, and professional trust.
Why AI Invents Sources in the First Place Ask an AI for a statistic and a citation, and it will hand you both — confidently, formatted correctly, with a plausible author and journal name. The problem is that language models don’t retrieve facts from a filing cabinet. They predict what a citation usually looks like … Read more
Most NDAs freelancers sign were drafted before ChatGPT existed, and clients rarely think to update them once AI enters the workflow. That doesn’t mean the agreement stays silent on the question. Standard confidentiality language usually restricts disclosure to any “third party,” and a language model — even a consumer one you’re chatting with for thirty … Read more
Key takeaway: Removing a client’s name is not enough. Before using a document with an AI tool, remove direct identifiers, look for combinations of details that can reveal the person or company indirectly, check hidden information such as comments and metadata, and consider whether the document remains identifiable even after cleaning. You have a long … Read more
Key takeaway: Sometimes you can use a client email with an AI tool, but the safest starting point is not to paste the entire message. First check your agreement with the client, what information the email contains, how your AI account handles data, and whether the task can be completed with less information. A client … Read more
Key takeaway: There is no universal list that covers every client, contract and AI service. But some information should trigger an immediate stop—or at least a much stricter review—before it is pasted into an AI tool. Credentials, payment details, highly sensitive personal information, confidential legal material, security secrets and client data that you are not … Read more
Key takeaway: A paid individual AI subscription is not automatically the same thing as a business AI account. Business and managed-workspace products often come with different contractual terms, model-training defaults, administrative controls, and data protections. But upgrading to a business plan does not make every client document appropriate to upload. You use ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, … Read more