Privacy and scam basics

Two quick safety essentials that protect you: being careful what you share with AI, and knowing how to spot AI-powered scams. Both are simple habits with real payoff.

Protecting your privacy — what not to share. When you type into a consumer AI tool, your words may be stored and even used to improve the AI (often by default, sometimes even on paid plans), and deleting a chat may not fully remove it. So keep certain things out of AI:

• Never share: passwords, PINs, security codes, bank or card numbers, or government IDs (like Social Security numbers).
• Be careful with: highly sensitive personal information, other people's private details, and confidential work information.
• The simple rule: treat typing into AI like posting on a semi-public bulletin board — would you be okay if this were stored on a company's servers or seen by someone? If not, don't type it in. You can still get help by leaving out or generalizing the sensitive specifics.

(You can also check your AI tool's settings for a privacy or "data controls" option, and use a "temporary chat" mode for sensitive questions — but the "don't type in sensitive info" rule is the essential one.)

Spotting AI-powered scams — this could protect you or a loved one. Scammers now use AI to clone voices, make fake videos, and write convincing scam messages. The scariest is voice cloning: a scammer can copy a loved one's voice from seconds of audio and call you sounding exactly like family, claiming an emergency and demanding money urgently. The habits that defeat these scams:

• Verify on a known number. Got an urgent call or message from "family" or an "official" asking for money or information? Hang up and call them back on a number you already have. This single habit stops the vast majority of voice-cloning scams.
• Agree on a family "safe word." A code word real family would know but a scammer wouldn't — ask for it if you get a suspicious "emergency" call.
• Be very suspicious of urgency plus unusual payment. Any request combining pressure ("act now, don't tell anyone") with gift cards, wire transfers, or cryptocurrency is almost certainly a scam.
• Don't trust a familiar voice or caller ID alone — both can be faked now. And note: AI writes polished, error-free scam messages, so "bad spelling" is no longer a reliable warning sign.
• Turn on extra login security (two-factor authentication) on your important accounts.

Share the scam habits with people you love, especially older relatives, who are often targeted. The "call back on a known number" habit and a family safe word could save someone from real harm.

The mindset: two safety essentials protect you. For privacy, keep sensitive information — passwords, financial and ID numbers, others' private details, confidential work data — out of consumer AI (which may store what you type), using the check "would I be okay if this were stored or seen?" For scams, know that AI can clone voices and write convincing fakes, and defeat them with simple habits: verify on a known number, use a family safe word, and be deeply suspicious of urgency plus unusual payment (gift cards, wire, crypto). Turn on two-factor login security, don't trust a familiar voice alone — and share these scam habits with loved ones, because they genuinely prevent real harm.