Making informed decisions about what you share with AI — and what you don't

Duration: 2–3 days

Every time you use a cloud AI tool, you make a data-sharing decision. Most people make this decision without knowing what they're deciding. You click into ChatGPT or Claude or Gemini, type something, hit enter, and somewhere on the internet a copy of what you just typed is now in someone else's system. What happens to it next — whether it trains a model, how long it's stored, who can see it — depends on a privacy policy you've probably never read.

This module gives you the information you need to make that decision consciously. Not to make you stop using AI. The opposite: to make your use of it informed. You'll learn what cloud AI providers actually do with your data, what data you should never put into these tools, how to evaluate a new AI tool before you start relying on it, what to do when you work with organizational data, and what the alternative is when you need AI help with data that can't leave your machine.

Lessons

Lesson 1: What Cloud AI Actually Does With Your Data Reading beyond the marketing — what the policies actually say.

Lesson 2: The Data You Should Never Put Into AI Tools An opinionated list — with the reasoning behind it.

Lesson 3: Evaluating an AI Tool Before You Use It Five questions that tell you what you need to know.

Lesson 4: AI Tools and Your Organization's Data When your individual habits affect other people's data.

Lesson 5: The Local AI Option When you need AI assistance with data that can't leave your machine.

Module 2 Exercises

Complete the four exercises and document your personal data policy.

What This Module Doesn't Cover

This module does not cover enterprise data governance architecture and frameworks, or regulatory compliance in technical depth (GDPR, HIPAA, CCPA, SOC 2). It does not address data loss prevention systems or formal data classification methodology. If your role involves formal compliance obligations, the information in this module is context, not advice — consult with your legal or compliance team.

Module 2 · AI Security Essentials