Everyday AI · Safety & Security
Remove private information before asking AI for help
Do you want AI to help explain a document?
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AI narration · English · Prompt text stays on the page
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What to do
- Check whether the AI needs the whole document or only one short section.
- Never paste passwords, PINs, one-time passwords (OTPs), login codes or account recovery codes into a chat.
- Before uploading a document or screenshot, remove names, addresses, phone numbers, government IDs, medical identifiers, signatures and faces. Use placeholders such as [customer name].
- Share only the small section needed. Remove private details yourself first; do not send the original and ask AI to hide them.
Try this prompt
Remove private details yourself first. Then paste this prompt with the short, cleaned section.
Help me create a privacy-safe version of this text/document for an AI task. Minimize the information shared rather than merely masking obvious numbers.
MY AI TASK
[WHAT I NEED HELP WITH]
CONTENT TO REVIEW
[paste text only after removing any secrets you already recognize]
FIRST: IDENTIFY DATA CATEGORIES
Mark content that may reveal:
- passwords, PINs, OTP/recovery/authentication codes
- financial/card/account/e-wallet identifiers
- government ID/passport/license numbers
- exact home address, personal phone/email when unnecessary
- birth date or other identity-verification details
- medical/patient/record identifiers
- employee/student/customer/account numbers
- signatures, QR/barcodes, login/session links/tokens
- third-party personal information
- confidential business/client information
OUTPUT
1. What information is necessary for my stated AI task.
2. What should be removed entirely.
3. What can be generalized with placeholders such as [PERSON], [COMPANY], [DATE], [AMOUNT], [CITY], [LAST SAFE DIGITS].
4. A rewritten privacy-minimized version.
5. Anything still potentially identifying after redaction.
RULES
- Never repeat a secret/credential unnecessarily in the output.
- Prefer removing a field over partially masking it when the task does not require it.
- Preserve facts needed for the task, but generalize identity where possible.
- Do not claim that redaction makes sharing completely risk-free.
- If the content belongs to another person or organization, flag that additional permission/confidentiality considerations may apply.
Use the minimum-data principle: if removing a detail does not reduce the AI’s ability to do the stated task, remove it.See a sample result
Illustrative example. Your answer may differ.
Input (illustrative): “[customer] in [city] asks why this electricity bill of ₱1,850 is due on 25 September.” Example result: “The bill is ₱1,850 and is due on 25 September. To confirm: what the listed charges are for, using the original bill.”
Before you use it: Never send the original document and ask AI to hide private details. If you already pasted a password, change it in the official app or website. Deleting the chat does not protect the account.
Philippine notes
- In the Philippines this includes SSS, PhilHealth, TIN, passport, UMID, driver's license and National ID numbers.
- For medical, legal, financial, employment or government records, removing names may not be enough. Use a made-up example, or ask the office that issued the record.
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