The short answer is yes.
The long answer is – it depends what you put into it. Here are some examples:
- Never put proprietary or confidential information as a prompt into a cloud-based AI tool. This will normally feed that content into the learning algorythm for that tool, where that content can be used by others. If the tool you use allows you to opt out of your prompts and inputs being used for training, it is a good safeguard to do so.
- If you are a Canadian business, any content, including your prompts, which you put into a consumer AI product (one that isn’t wholly owned by your company, not just subscribed to) is going to be stored in the USA or another place where privacy standards may not be PIPEDA compliant. PIPEDA is the Canadian federal privacy legislation. So don’t use it to summarize sales data, write a report on your activities, or read and summarize an internal document or one provided by a client.
- If you use generative AI to create documents or artwork you wish to publish or distribute externally to your organization, be aware that that content cannot be trademarked, and you almost certainly don’t own it*.
- If you use it as a personal sounding board, be aware that again, all of the information you put into it becomes the property of the AI platform for training purposes.
- Although some AI providers like Microsoft copilot provide limited (and sometimes conflicting) reassurance that inputs and prompts are not always used to train AI, they will almost certainly be stored outside of Canada during a retention period of up to 30 days, which will likely not be PIPEDA compliant.
- Anything that is reading and summarizing, recommending, rewording or generating content within a tool is likely to be AI driven, with that data stored outside of Canada. It’s up to you to verify whether the tool you are using is using your inputs for training. Most do.
For more information on how to use AI safely, you might want to look at the AI for Small Business Productivity course. For information on how to turn off and opt out of AI tools, I am gathering informaton and will be offering an AI removal course in the coming months.
Safety basics
- Assume any consumer (non-enterprize) AI platform is collecting data from your prompts and inputs. This includes services you have a pro subscription to.
- Never enter personally identifiable information about yourself or anyone else, or trade secrets.
- Look in the menus for “Data Control” or “Privacy” section of every AI app to disable training on data.
** Note – this is information I have gleaned from other experts in the field and some local legal precedents. Your end of the internet might be different. I’m not a lawyer and none of this is legal advice.
