As AI becomes more integrated into daily life, it’s crucial to treat it as a work colleague rather than a friend, minimising personal information sharing to avoid building detailed digital profiles and maintain caution against potential risks. Picture: Google Gemini
Image: Google Gemini
Call me sceptical, but I’m always wary of giving any AI app more than the bare minimum of information. As these tools become increasingly embedded in our daily lives, though, that’s becoming harder and harder to avoid.
I’ve written about it before — particularly when the ChatGPT caricature trend exploded a few months ago. People were uploading photos of themselves while also volunteering details about their hobbies, interests, and personalities.
Sure, it was mostly harmless fun, but at the same time, we were also helping these AI apps build increasingly detailed digital profiles of us.
Personally, the less an AI app knows about me, the better. Instead, approach it like a work colleague that you wouldn't share al your personal information with, unless it was absolutely necessary.
The problem is that, more often than not, you end up sharing those details out of convenience or necessity.
Take buying a car, for example. A decade ago, that process probably started with a broad Google search before branching out into reviews, dealerships, and comparisons. Now, many people type a highly specific prompt into an AI chatbot, detailing their exact budget, lifestyle, and preferences, then ask the app to decide which options make the most sense.
It’s convenient, but it also removes more of the human element from major life decisions.
And when you combine that with people asking these same apps for health, relationship, or financial advice, the amount of personal information being handed over grows at an alarming rate.
Maybe I’m just cynical, but years of watching films like Terminator 2: Judgment Day, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, and I, Robot left me with a healthy mistrust of “the robots”.
That’s why I still believe we should err on the side of caution when it comes to AI — useful as it may be.