What happens to the stuff you paste in · Volt26 Guides
All guidesPlain English · 5 min

What happens to the stuff you paste in

When you type into ChatGPT, or any of them, it goes off to the company's servers to be processed. That part's unavoidable. What matters is what happens to it after that.

Training

On the free and personal plans, what you type can be used to train future versions unless you turn it off. In ChatGPT it's under Settings, then Data controls, then "Improve the model for everyone". Claude and Gemini have their own version of the same switch. The names move around every few months, so if you can't find it, search their help pages for "training".

Business plans generally don't train on your data by default, and that's a big part of what you're paying for.

History

Your chats are saved so you can scroll back through them. Handy, but it means anyone with your login can read them too, so use a decent password and turn on two-step login. Most of them also have a temporary chat that isn't saved, which is good for the odd sensitive bit.

What I'd keep out of it altogether

  • Passwords, bank logins and card numbers.
  • Anything about a staff member's health or personal life.
  • Something a client told you in confidence, unless you've taken the names out first.

Everything else, like drafting a quote, tidying an email or working out a price rise, I use it for every day and I'm comfortable with that.

One more thing. If you're handling customers' personal information, the Privacy Act still applies when you paste it into an AI tool. The Privacy Commissioner has guidance on AI if you want the official version.