When using Generative AI, it is crucial to consider your privacy, particularly when inputting sensitive or Personally Identifiable Information (PII). While these systems are designed to assist with tasks like text generation, they may store or process user data in ways that could expose it to potential misuse or data breaches.
The University provides access to endorsed tools that are part of the University's digital service provision including Microsoft Copilot which is a powerful AI assistant. Copilot complies with GDPR data protection regulations, does not store or remember any personal information unless explicitly asked to do so by the user and doesn’t share user data with third parties.
While we would encourage students to explore and evaluate AI tools outside those provided by the University, as part of AI Literacy development, it is essential to follow safe data protection practices and be aware of the AI model's privacy policies. While these policies can often be lengthy, they help you understand how your data is used and what it is not used for. Here are some basic guidelines to help prevent your data from being misused:
Remove and redact your name, email, phone number, address from any content you input.
Remove location data from your images that you upload.
Do not share personal or private images with the AI model.
Never share any passwords or login information for other sites.
Do not share any other person's information with an AI model.
Do not share internal or sensitive company data, including workplace documents.
Be cautious about mentioning the names of where you may work or study.
If you are unsure about what you can share with AI, you can ask yourself “If I shared this with a stranger, would I be comfortable?”