The AI-Safe Desk · Module 3: Working safely anyway
The settings that matter
Every major tool has settings that change which of the four things it does with your text. Finding them once and setting them properly is the highest-value ten minutes in this course.
Look for: a training or "improve the model" toggle, which you turn off. A chat history setting, which you can turn off or set to delete after a period. A temporary or incognito chat mode, which most tools now have. It keeps the chat out of your history and out of training, though the company still holds a copy for a short time for safety checks (up to 30 days for ChatGPT and Claude, 72 hours for Gemini). And on business accounts, an admin-controlled data policy that you can read, and should.
Settings are not a substitute for the bands. A red document is red whatever the settings. But for amber work on a consumer tool, the right settings plus redaction is a reasonable position, and it is one you can explain.
| Setting | What to do |
|---|---|
| Model training / improve the model | Off. This is the one that lets your text shape future versions. |
| Chat history / memory | Off for anything amber, or set to auto-delete. Use temporary chat for one-off sensitive tasks. |
| Temporary / incognito chat | Use it by default for anything you would not want in a searchable history. |
| Business data policy | Ask IT for it. Read it. It tells you what your licence actually promises. |
In practice. A marketing manager assumed his team's work-licensed tool had training switched off because "that is what the licence is for." When he asked IT, it was, and he also learned that history was retained for thirty days and reviewable by admins. He told his team. Two people stopped using it for draft appraisals.
At your desk. Open every AI tool you use. Find and set the training toggle, the history setting and the temporary chat option. For your work-licensed tool, ask whoever administers it what the data policy says, and write down the answer in one line.
Write it down.
- Training toggle status on each tool:
- History setting:
- What my work licence actually promises: