Safe AI Use: What to Watch Out For and How to Avoid Mistakes
A 2025 study found that 77% of employees regularly enter sensitive company data into AI chatbots — and most of them don’t think they’re doing anything wrong.
That’s not an accusation. It’s the result of how naturally AI tools work: you type a question, you get an answer. No alarm sounds. Nothing looks dangerous.
But the data you give an AI doesn’t necessarily stay with you alone. And the results you get from AI aren’t necessarily true. Both problems are solvable — you just need to know what to look out for.
What Actually Happens to the Data You Give AI
Modern AI chatbots are commercial services. Your conversations serve as input for generating responses — but also as potential training data, telemetry, or business records.
Concrete figures from the world of AI incidents in 2025:
- 3 million sensitive records per organization were exposed by tools like Microsoft Copilot in the first half of 2025 (Concentric AI research)
- 300 million messages from 25 million users were accessible following a security breach in an AI chat application (February 2026)
- ChatGPT conversations appeared in Google search results when users shared links — even though they thought their chat was private
- OpenAI is legally required to provide conversations if served with a court order — and “deleted” chats may be retained for up to 30 days
This doesn’t mean AI tools are dangerous. It means they need to be used consciously — just like email or cloud storage.
What You Should Never Enter into AI
Click a card to find out why.
When and How to Verify AI Outputs
As the article How AI Works explains, hallucinations aren’t an exception — they’re a systemic feature. The level of risk simply varies by context.
Always verify:
- Specific numbers, dates, names, and statistics — especially if you plan to publish or pass them on
- Legal and tax information — AI is not a lawyer or a tax adviser; treat its outputs as a starting point, not a professional opinion
- Medical information — the same principle applies; AI can be useful for a first understanding of a topic, but not for treatment decisions
- Citations and sources — AI sometimes invents sources; if it names a study or a book, verify it actually exists
Where to verify: Primary sources (official institution websites, PubMed for medical topics, government legal databases for legal texts, established news outlets) — not other AI tools.
The Most Common Mistakes When Working with AI
AI always gives an answer — even when it doesn't know one. Output is a starting point for critical evaluation, not a final result.
AI text doesn't know your context, tone, or relationship with the reader. Always revise, adapt, and review.
Shared chat links can be indexed by search engines. The sharing feature is for results — not for sensitive conversations.
AI provides an overview but bears no responsibility for what it tells you. You do. Always verify with a qualified professional.
Hundreds of lesser-known AI apps have questionable security standards. Choose tools with publicly available data protection policies.
How to Recognize a Safe AI Tool: What to Check Before You Start
Not all AI services handle your data the same way. The difference between a trustworthy tool and an anonymous app with no track record can be significant — and it isn’t always obvious at first glance.
Trustworthy services have clearly published data protection terms — in plain language, not just legal jargon.
Find out whether your inputs are used to train the AI. Look for opt-in or opt-out options in the terms.
Anonymous apps with no clear company, contact, or registered address are a red flag. Choose established providers.
Tools like GuideGlare AI Chat have usage terms and data protection set up with the customer in mind — your conversations are not used to train third-party models, and data is not shared with third parties without your consent. That’s a different approach from many freely available chatbots, where your inputs are default material for further model training.
If you use an AI tool regularly or handle work-related topics in it, it’s worth choosing a service whose terms you’ve read — or one where you know someone has read them on your behalf.
Quick Safety Checklist
Before sending a message to AI, go through three questions:
- Would I be uncomfortable if someone else read this message? → If yes, anonymize it or don’t send it.
- Does the message contain personal or company data that could identify a specific individual? → If yes, remove it.
- Will I use this result for an important decision or publish it? → If yes, verify the facts from a primary source.
What AI Handles Safely
To complete the picture: the vast majority of everyday AI use carries no security risk whatsoever.
Writing emails on general topics, brainstorming ideas, summarizing publicly available texts, translating, explaining concepts, creating content — all of this can be done without concern, as long as you don’t include sensitive information in your prompts.
Staying safe with AI isn’t about fear — it’s about a conscious approach. And that’s a skill you can pick up quickly.
Try AI Safely
GuideGlare AI Chat is designed for everyday work tasks. Start with a general topic — the ideal first step, risk-free.
Test Yourself: Do You Know How to Use AI Safely?
Safe AI Use
That wraps up the complete AI basics. If any term or concept slipped past you — that’s exactly what the AI Glossary is for.