Bowie. Less noise. More you.

Different contexts, different rules.

What you'll leave with

By the end of this lesson, you'll understand how privacy considerations differ between personal and professional AI use, and you'll have a simple habit for protecting both.

Why this matters

Using AI for your own personal tasks (planning meals, drafting personal messages, thinking through decisions) carries a certain level of privacy consideration. Using AI for work tasks carries a different, often higher, level.

This lesson helps you navigate both contexts with confidence.

The idea

A practical approach for work tasks: describe the situation in general terms without including specific names, numbers, or identifying information. AI can help with structure, language, and thinking even without the sensitive specifics.

What to know

Personal privacy:

For personal use, the main considerations are your own sensitive information (covered in Lesson 6.1) and the private information of people in your life.

You can describe situations involving other people without including identifying details. "A close friend going through a difficult situation" does not require their name, their details, or identifying information about their circumstances. AI can help you with the interpersonal situation without those details.

Professional considerations:

Company policy: many organizations have explicit policies about what can be processed through external AI tools. Know yours.
Client confidentiality: information about clients, customers, or business partners is often subject to legal confidentiality obligations.
NDAs: non-disclosure agreements may restrict what you can share outside company systems.
Proprietary information: business strategies, product plans, financial projections, personnel decisions.

Example

The same work task, two ways.

Instead of:

Here is our Q3 revenue forecast for review.

Try:

I need to write an executive summary for a financial document. The document covers quarterly performance against target. Help me with the structure and language and I will fill in the actual numbers.

You get the same useful draft with none of the exposure. Most work tasks can be generalized this way; the ones that cannot are your signal that AI may not be the right tool for that task.

Try this now

Think of a recent work task where you used or considered using AI.

Could you describe the situation without sharing sensitive specifics?

If yes, rewrite the prompt that way.

If no, note this as a case where AI may not be the right tool.

Save this

Describe the situation in general terms without including specific names, numbers, or identifying information. AI can help with structure, language, and thinking even without the sensitive specifics.

Quiet takeaway

Privacy at work is not just about protecting the company. It is about protecting yourself. Knowing where the lines are before you cross them is the simplest possible form of professional care.

Privacy handled. The next lesson covers a different category of risk: the ways AI-generated content is being used to deceive people, and how to stay alert without becoming paranoid.