Start with AI · Decision tool

What information is safe to put into an AI tool?

Beginner · Published 2026-10-12 · Reviewed 2026-10-05

Tools: Multi-tool
Audience: People getting started with AI
Topic: Start with AI

Document folders organised on a shelf beside a desk

You’ll finish with: a record of what information is allowed and who approves exceptions.

Before uploading a document, work out whether it belongs there. “It was in my Downloads folder” is not a sharing policy. This exercise helps you choose a lower-risk starting point.

Set up

Allow 15 minutes. Read your organisation’s AI and information-handling rules first. For practice, use only the invented descriptions below; do not paste the real records.

Download this guide’s practice sheet ↓

Try this example

FICTIONAL PRACTICE MATERIAL
A: public opening-hours leaflet. B: spreadsheet of customer names and personal phone numbers. C: fictional sales figures invented for training. D: internal contract with pricing and access restrictions.

Do the task

List the owner, sensitivity and permitted destination for each item.
Ask AI to identify the questions you need answered; use your actual policy to decide.
Choose public or fictional material for the first test and document exclusions.

Your reusable prompt

Using these descriptions only, draft a data-use decision record. For each item list owner approval needed, identifying information, permitted account to confirm, and a safer substitute. Do not declare legal compliance.

PRACTICE INPUT
A: public opening-hours leaflet. B: spreadsheet of customer names and personal phone numbers. C: fictional sales figures invented for training. D: internal contract with pricing and access restrictions.

Refine your result

Assume no workplace policy has been supplied. Mark permission as unverified instead of treating an AI subscription as approval.

Check the result

Public and fictional inputs are simpler starting points. Customer details and contracts need a real authority check; removing a name alone may not make a document anonymous.

Save and reuse

Save the decision and the policy reference you used. If ownership or permission remains unclear, pause the upload.

Sources and notes

Connected apps and access Checked 2026-10-05

The practice input and teaching prompt are original 5HO material. Examples are fictional; they are not screenshots or claims of a completed real-world task.
Official documentation supports the relevant product concepts. Setup availability depends on your account; where a guide offers a fallback, it does not prove the connected capability worked.