All the answers
Keep personal details out
On a personal account, your employer has no agreement with the AI company about this data, and you may break your employer's rules by pasting it.
- Replace names, emails and phone numbers with placeholders such as [Customer 1].
- Only paste what the task needs.
- Ask whether your employer can provide an approved AI tool.
Find out before you paste
Whether this is allowed depends on who set up the account and what your employer's rules say.
- Ask your manager, IT or data protection lead which AI is approved for work.
- Until then, use placeholders instead of real names and details.
Follow the policy
If your employer's policy says no, the answer is no, even on a work account.
- Use placeholders, or do this part of the job without AI.
- If the rule gets in the way, raise it with your manager.
Ask first
Without a policy, check with your manager or data protection lead before you put real people's details into any AI.
- Use placeholders in the meantime.
- Acas says employers should develop clear policies on using AI at work.
Fine with care: use only what you need
UK GDPR says personal data should be limited to what is necessary for the purpose. Less in, less to worry about.
- Take out anything the task doesn't need.
- Check the result before it goes anywhere.
- Don't keep chats with personal details longer than you need them.
Extra care: check before you paste
These are "special category" data under UK GDPR. They carry extra legal protection and need a specific condition to be used.
- Check with HR or your data protection lead first.
- Ask whether the task can be done without these details. Usually it can.
- If it must be done, use only the details needed and an approved work account.
Don't paste these
No everyday writing or admin task needs bank details, National Insurance numbers, passwords or copies of ID documents.
- Remove them, or replace them with placeholders such as [Account number].
- If something sensitive was pasted by mistake, tell your manager or IT so they can follow your organisation's process.