AI Tools and Your Privacy: What You Need to Know
Easy-to-use artificial intelligence tools may soon change our work and school lives – but they come with a host of new privacy threats. Here are some ways to help protect yourself.
Generative AI tools are becoming integral to our daily routines, offering creative ideas, entertainment and significant productivity gains. But their use raises critical questions: what are these tools learning about us, and is it too much?
These AI tools use sophisticated algorithms and vast amounts of data from across the internet to generate text, videos and images. As you engage with them, it’s crucial to understand they are not just helping you, they are “learning” from every interaction. Unlike traditional search engines, chatbots capture and store every query or prompt you enter, along with information from your profile and your computer equipment, such as your IP address. This data trains and improves the AI, but also potentially exposes you, your family or your business to cybercrime. Here are some ways to protect yourself.
Understand how generative AI tools work
Every interaction is recorded and saved, even if a chat or query is deleted. Your user profile information is captured – IP address, location, phone number, log-on data, device information, browser cookies, network activity. Information about you is also extracted and aggregated from social media and other online services. Many of these tools are not currently subject to government regulations or ethics rules, making it possible for bad actors to target you or your family.
Take care setting up an account
• Anonymize your profile: Create a new, dedicated email address when you sign up. Be cautious with the phone number and other identifiers you provide. Use a VPN to encrypt interactions and prevent collection of your IP address and location.
• Choose a service with care: Use a reputable service, disable “model learning,” create a strong password and enable two-factor authentication.
• Be discreet and diligent: Do not disclose sensitive information such as names, birthdays, tax information or addresses. Provide parameters, not specifics. Opt out of data collection in settings, log off after each session, and regularly delete cookies and history.
Protect yourself from cybercriminals
Hackers can use AI to write sophisticated malware, generate convincing phishing emails and create disinformation. Always verify sources of emails, calls, texts and video calls via a separate channel, especially requests to change payment information.
Basic cybersecurity protections:
Use multi-factor authentication, strong unique passwords, continuous anti-virus software, and keep systems up to date.
An emerging threat: Voice deepfakes
Generative AI can replicate voices from social media and calls. Always verify the identity of anyone making a financial request and consider establishing a family safe word to confirm urgent requests.
Rick Barragan is the Managing Director,
Los Angeles Market Manager, for
J.P. Morgan Private Bank.
r.barragan@jpmorgan.com | (310) 860-3658
privatebank.jpmorgan.com/los-angeles
Source: “AI tools and your privacy: What you need to know,” Ileana van der Linde, head of cyber advisory, Sept. 30, 2026.
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