Protecting customer data with AI is mostly about discipline, not deep technical work. The common breaches are simple: staff paste personal data into public tools, or a vendor trains its models on your customers' information. Both are avoidable with a few clear rules.
The rules that cover most of it
- Know what you are feeding it - never put customer personal data into a public, free AI tool
- Read the data terms - a business-grade tool should promise not to train on your data; a free one usually will
- Minimise - share the least data needed for the task, anonymised where possible
- Keep a lawful basis - under UK GDPR you still need a reason to process personal data through AI
- Control access - not everyone needs the AI tool, or the data it touches
It is a governance question
Data protection with AI is an extension of the data governance you should already have - covered in depth in security and data concerns with business AI. The tool changes; the obligations do not.
The bottom line
Keep customer data out of public tools, read the vendor's data terms, and share the minimum - that covers the large majority of the risk. Building this discipline is the focus of the AI Risk Management & Security course at London School of Business UK. Enquire today.