How to Protect Your Data While Using ChatGPT and Gemini

Artificial intelligence has now entered the daily lives of millions of people. Tools like ChatGPT and Gemini are used to write emails, improve resumes, create documents, analyze texts, and find new ideas in seconds.

While we leverage these technologies to work or study faster, we often forget one crucial detail: everything we paste into chats may contain personal or sensitive information. If you don’t configure your privacy settings correctly, you risk sharing more information than necessary.

In short: To protect your data when using ChatGPT or Gemini , it’s essential to avoid entering sensitive information, check the platforms’ privacy settings, use temporary chats when necessary, and always verify files and screenshots before uploading them.

Today, artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT and Gemini are used for a wide variety of tasks: from writing automated emails to reviewing and writing documents , to generating ideas or translating texts . For this very reason, it’s important to understand how to use them wisely and safely.

In this guide, we’ll look at the fundamental rules for avoiding errors , which settings to check on the two platforms, and some practical tips for protecting personal information when using AI chatbots.

Index

What you should never enter in ChatGPT and Gemini chats

The first security rule is also the simplest: never enter sensitive information into AI chats. No privacy settings can completely protect you if you directly share personal or confidential data.

Data You Should Avoid Sharing

Information that should never be pasted into an AI chat includes:

• Passwords and OTP codes
• Bank details or IBAN
• Personal or business documents
• Customer data or confidential information
• Company secrets or confidential projects

A simple rule to remember is this: if you wouldn’t type that information in a public chat, then you shouldn’t type it in an AI chat either. If you need to work with sensitive text, it’s best to mask it using placeholders like [NAME] , [COMPANY] , or [AMOUNT] .

ChatGPT Privacy Settings You Should Check Now

ChatGPT includes several options that allow you to better manage the privacy of your conversations. One of the first things to do after creating an account is to check the settings in Data Controls.

Be careful with these ChatGPT settings

To reduce the risk of unintentionally sharing personal data, it is important to check some specific features of the platform.

• Improve model for everyone: If enabled, some conversations can be used to improve AI models. Click on your account at the bottom left and from the menu that appears, select Personalization > Data Controls . Here, disable Improve model for everyone .
• Chat history: Keeping many conversations can create a history of sensitive data. Still in Personalization , go to Data Controls and under Delete All Chats , click Delete All . If you only want to delete certain chats, click the three dots next to the chat you want to delete in the left bar and, in the menu that appears, click Delete .
• Uploaded files: PDFs , screenshots, and documents may contain metadata or personal information. Redact sensitive data before uploading.
• Uncontrolled screenshots: Images of emails or documents may include addresses, phone numbers, or company data.
• Chat Sharing: Public links to conversations can make the content accessible to others. You can find them by going to Settings > Data Controls > Shared Links . Here you can click Manage and delete them.
• Browser extensions: Some extensions can read or record web page content. If you use Chrome, we’ve highlighted them for you in this guide: The best Chrome extensions .

For greater security, it is advisable to disable the option that allows you to use chats to improve the model and use temporary chats when dealing with sensitive content (you can open them by clicking on the dotted circle icon , top right).

How to manage privacy on Gemini

Gemini, the chatbot developed by Google, also includes several settings that allow you to control how interactions with artificial intelligence are handled.

Be careful with these Gemini settings

To protect your data, it’s important to control some features that can save or use interactions with AI.

• Gemini Apps Activity: If enabled, your Gemini interactions can be saved to your Google Account. Go to this page and click Activity in the bottom left .
• Activity History: A long history may contain personal data entered in chats. On the same Save Activity page, click Delete at the bottom to delete your history on Gemini. You can choose from: Last hour, Last day, Since beginning, or Custom range .
• Auto-delete disabled: Without automatic deletion, data can be saved for a long time. To check, go to this page , click on Web & App Activity and go to the Automatic deletion section . Here you can choose after how long to automatically delete data (3, 18, 36 months). If the option is set to Off, it means that the activities can be saved without automatic deletion.
• Android app integrations: Gemini can connect to your phone, messages, or other apps on your device. Go to Gemini > Settings & Help > Connected Apps . Uncheck the connected services or apps.
• Access to Google services: Some features may use data from other services in your account. You can block permissions for the Gemini app by going to Android Phone > Settings > Apps > Gemini > Permissions . Here you can disable: Phone , SMS , Microphone , and Contacts . This will prevent Gemini from accessing that information.
• Sharing public links: Conversations shared via links can be viewed by anyone who owns the URL. You can find public links by going to Settings & Help > Your Public Links . Here, you’ll see all the chats you’ve shared. Deleting the link will no longer make the conversation accessible via the URL .

Checking these settings and reducing the amount of data saved is one of the most effective ways to improve your privacy when using Gemini .

Practical tips for using ChatGPT and Gemini safely

Beyond platform settings, there are some best practices that can significantly improve security when using AI tools.

A quick checklist before pasting text

Before sending any content to an AI chatbot, it’s helpful to do a quick check for a few seconds. Ask yourself if the text contains first and last names , phone numbers , addresses , or IDs . If the answer is yes, it’s a good idea to replace this data with placeholders before sending it .

Another helpful tip is to use separate accounts for work and personal use . This helps maintain order and reduces the risk of mixing sensitive data with less important conversations.

It’s also recommended that you enable two-factor authentication (2FA) on the accounts you use to log in to ChatGPT or Gemini . This feature adds an extra layer of security and protects your account even if your password is compromised.

Finally, it’s important to be careful with browser extensions . Some extensions can read the content of web pages and chats. Using only trusted extensions or, if necessary, a browser dedicated to AI tools can further reduce risks. You can check out How ChatGPT Atlas Works: The AI ​​Browser That’s Revolutionizing Web Browsing .

Conclusions

ChatGPT and Gemini represent some of the most important technological innovations in recent years. These tools can simplify many daily tasks and improve productivity in various areas.

At the same time, it’s essential to use them carefully . Protecting your data doesn’t mean giving up artificial intelligence , but learning to use it wisely. Avoiding sharing sensitive information , checking your privacy settings , and adopting a few simple security rules allows you to use these tools with greater peace of mind.