- Avoid sharing personal, banking, or corporate data to prevent leaks and identity theft.
- Do not replace professional medical, legal, or financial advice with AI answers due to the risk of hallucinations.
- Maintain personal autonomy by preventing the bot from making vital decisions or managing emotional conflicts.
Interacting with artificial intelligence can give the impression of having an omniscient assistant that solves everything in the blink of an eye. It's fascinating how ChatGPT understands complex contexts and writes texts that seem human-like, but that's precisely where the danger lies: we forget that there's no consciousness or feelings behind the screen, just algorithms processing data.
Knowing which questions to avoid isn't a matter of etiquette, but of digital survival . From the privacy of your bank accounts to your mental health, there are red lines we shouldn't cross to avoid ending up in a compromising situation or, worse, making decisions based on an AI-generated hallucination . Let's break down everything you should stay away from in these chats.
The privacy and sensitive data trap
The golden rule is very simple: if you wouldn't post it on a Facebook or Instagram wall, don't write it to an AI. Many people believe they're in a private conversation, but the reality is that OpenAI and other companies store the data to train their models. This means your information could be reviewed by human employees or exposed in a security breach.
- Personally identifiable information: Never give out your ID card, NIE, passport, exact address, or date of birth. You're essentially creating a digital copy of your identity that is beyond your control.
- Banking secrets: It's a huge mistake to paste bank statements or card numbers for AI to analyze. Cybercriminals trade stolen accounts on the dark web and expose your credentials It's giving them the key to your money.
- Minors's data: Sharing the name of your children's school or their routines is especially dangerous. Protect children's privacy avoiding giving specific details that would allow the children to be located.
- Media files: The viewing features allow you to upload photos, but remember that these contain metadata such as gps location and sensitive data that AI processes and stores.
The risk of professional advice
This is where we enter the realm of "hallucinations." AI doesn't know what the truth is; it simply predicts the most likely word. This is a ticking time bomb when dealing with issues where a mistake could be fatal.
Mental health and well-being
Every week, thousands of people use chat therapy because it's free and non-judgmental. However, AI lacks professional confidentiality and cannot make a clinical diagnosis. Requesting a prescription or analyzing a serious symptom can lead to a misdiagnosis . For mental or physical health issues, the only safe option is to consult a licensed healthcare professional.
Legal and financial matters
While AI can explain basic legal concepts, it isn't updated in real time with the jurisprudence of each jurisdiction . Drafting a binding contract or planning a legal strategy based solely on a bot can lead to costly litigation. The same applies to money: AI can analyze trends, but it lacks the expertise of a financial advisor to reliably predict the market.
Ethical limits and prohibitions of the system
There are categories of questions that the system is programmed to prohibit you from answering, as they aim to compromise security or promote hate speech. Attempting to circumvent these restrictions is not only futile, but may also lead to the suspension of your account.
- Illegal activities: Inquiries about hacking accounts, manufacturing homemade weapons, or distributing prohibited substances are strictly blocked.
- Harassment and manipulation: Asking for advice on how to deceive someone, spreading misinformation about a person, or encouraging the hatred towards minorities It goes against all ethical policies.
- Invasion of privacy: Attempting to extract private data from other users or requesting confidential information from companies without authorization is an unacceptable practice.
Human interactions and life decisions
AI is a tool, not an oracle or a friend. There are aspects of life that require empathy and critical judgment , capabilities that a piece of programming code will never possess.
Avoid asking it to make life-altering decisions for you, such as changing careers or resolving deep-seated family conflicts. AI offers generic and superficial responses because it doesn't know your actual psychological profile or the emotional context of your environment. Similarly, asking about feelings or preferences is just receiving a simulation; AI doesn't have opinions, only linguistic patterns.
Tips for safer use
To mitigate risks, it's essential to configure the tool correctly. You can delete your ChatGPT chat history in the data controls settings to prevent your conversations from being used to train the model. Alternatively, you can use ChatGPT's temporary chats , which delete information when you close the window, or browse in incognito mode for specific queries.
If you need AI to analyze a document, the best technique is to anonymize the text : replace real names with "Person A" and addresses with "Example Street." This way, you leverage the bot's analytical capabilities without compromising your digital security.
The key lies in integrating artificial intelligence as an informative complement, not as an absolute truth. By maintaining a distance from personal data, avoiding self-diagnosis, and delegating critical decisions to human professionals, we can enjoy this technology without compromising our security or privacy.
