What happens to what you give an AI
When you upload a document to an AI assistant, the text travels to the servers of the company that offers it. It is processed there and, depending on the service, stays in your conversation history for a while.
Many services, especially in their free or personal versions, may use what you write to improve their models. Terms change and each service has its own. Once the text has left your computer, it no longer depends only on you.
Which data identify a person (even when it does not seem so)
The name and ID are the obvious ones. But a person can also be recognized by:
- their phone number, email, or address;
- a nickname or first name in an interview, together with the neighborhood or job;
- a role in a small organization (“the school principal”);
- an unusual combination: a rare diagnosis, an exact date, and a small town;
- what you do not see: the file’s author, comments, tracked changes, or a chart’s hidden spreadsheet.
That is why deleting the name from the title is not enough: you have to look at the whole document, including what does not appear on screen.
Why before and not after
For almost everything you ask an AI to do (summarize, edit, organize, compare) the personal data is not needed. With codes like [Person 1] the AI still understands who does what, and you go back to the names with the lookup table.
And once the text has reached the AI, you cannot take it back.
How to anonymize your document with HILO
Choose your document (Word, PDF, PowerPoint, .odt, or .txt) and HILO looks for names and data in your browser: the file is not uploaded anywhere. It shows you what it found with its code, you settle the doubtful ones, and you download the anonymized document, the lookup table (private, kept apart), and a certificate of what was done.
Before sharing, give it one last look: no automatic detection is perfect. HILO helps you remove the data; if your case has special rules, check with your organization first.