Corporations tell their people: never put company data in AI. Easy for them, they have departments to do the analysis some other way. If you're a company of one, that advice quietly means "never get the value." You've got to put real information in AI if you want real help. The question isn't whether, it's how to do it like an adult.
“Corporations will say don't do this, don't do that, but they got money to have someone do that for them.”
The pragmatic middle path
- The non-negotiable first: turn OFF model training in your AI's settings before anything else. Your business conversations should never teach someone else's model.
- Strip identifiers, keep substance: analyzing your finances? Remove the business name and tax IDs from the statements, then upload, the numbers are the value; the identifiers are the risk.
- Personal data stays out: your home address, phone numbers, government IDs have no business in any chat.
- Sensitive personal research gets a separate account, keep your business AI's memory strictly business.
- Know your profession's rules: if you carry legal privilege or health-data obligations, generic tools may not be appropriate at all, that's private-instance territory, and honest advisors say so instead of pretending one answer fits everyone.
Privacy isn't a wall; it's a trade you should make consciously, this data, for this value, with these settings. Corporations can afford to refuse the trade. You can't afford to make it blindly. The middle path is where a company of one actually lives.
Claire's own numbers
The framework, step by step
- 1
The non-negotiable first
turn OFF model training in your AI's settings before anything else. Your business conversations should never teach someone else's model.
- 2
Strip identifiers
keep substance: analyzing your finances? Remove the business name and tax IDs from the statements, then upload — the numbers are the value; the identi
- 3
Personal data stays out
your home address, phone numbers, government IDs have no business in any chat.
- 4
Sensitive personal research gets a separate account —
keep your business AI's memory strictly business
- 5
Know your profession's rules
if you carry legal privilege or health-data obligations, generic tools may not be appropriate at all — that's private-instance territory, and honest a
Claire's own framework from this essay, in the order she teaches it.
Source: Claire B. Soares, from her own travel business and live trainings.
Common Questions
Is corporate AI privacy advice right for a solo business?
Not entirely. Advice written for organizations with departments effectively means never getting the value when you are a company of one, so the trade has to be made consciously.
What is the one non-negotiable AI privacy setting?
Turning off model training before anything else. Your business conversations should never become someone else's training data.
What should never go into an AI tool?
Home addresses, government IDs, and full payment card numbers. Strip identifiers from financial documents and keep sensitive personal research in a separate account.
Written By
Claire B. Soares
6× Condé Nast Top Travel Specialist, Certified AI Consultant, and founder of Travel AI University. $3.4B+ in enterprise travel software sold to Google, IBM, Boeing, the federal government, and the DoD; $16M+ in luxury travel sales with Up in the Air Life.
About Claire
