Privacy and AI: what not to share

Chatting with an AI can feel private, like talking to a diary. It usually is not. Knowing where your words go, and what the age rules say, helps you use these tools without giving away more than you mean to.

Your chats may be stored, read or used

• Google says some Gemini chats are reviewed by people, including trained service providers, to improve its services, and reviewed chats can be kept for up to three years.
• Google's own advice: do not enter confidential information that you would not want a reviewer to see.
• OpenAI's terms say it may use your content (what you type and what the tool generates) to improve its services, and you can opt out of model training through its settings.
• Policies differ between tools and change over time, so read the privacy policy and check whether your data is shared, with whom, and whether it is used for training (University of Reading).

Age rules for common tools

• OpenAI's terms (effective 1 January 2026) say you must be at least 13, and if you are under 18 you need a parent or legal guardian's permission.
• Anthropic's consumer terms for Claude (effective 8 October 2025) say you must be at least 18 or the minimum age required in your location, whichever is higher.
• UNESCO's 2023 guidance on generative AI in education proposed an age limit of 13 for using AI tools in the classroom.
• Other tools set their own rules, so check the terms of anything you sign up for. Your school may also provide approved tools with their own protections.

Never paste these into an AI tool

• Passwords, verification codes, Emirates ID or passport numbers, and bank or card details.
• Your home address, phone number, school timetable or live location.
• Health information, private family matters or anything you would not want a stranger to read.
• Other people's personal information, messages or photos, including friends' screenshots.
• Confidential, personal or sensitive material from school or a job: Oxford tells students never to upload such material unless they know it is appropriate.

Settings worth changing today

• Look for an option to stop your chats being used for training, and decide whether you want it on (University of Reading).
• Use temporary or private chat modes for one-off questions where available; Google says temporary chats are not used to improve its AI with human reviewers.
• Delete old chat history you no longer need.
• If your school or university provides an AI tool through your student login, prefer it for coursework: Oxford says data shared in its licensed tools is not used to train external models.

Other people's faces and voices

• A UAE law firm explains that it is illegal in the UAE to photograph or film a person without their consent, even in a public place, and the Cybercrimes Law prohibits sharing such images online (Hadef and Partners).
• Do not upload other people's photos or voice recordings to AI apps to edit, animate or 'age' them without clear permission.
• Never create or share AI-made images, audio or video of real people that could embarrass, mislead or hurt them. If someone does this to you, see the Personal Safety module for how to report it.