Skip to content
PiBye
Download

How-to

How to put real names back into a draft the AI wrote with placeholders

Restore on your own computer, not in the chat: replace each placeholder, such as [PERSON_001], with its real value from your private key. Before you do, check the draft for placeholders the AI changed, merged, invented or dropped, because a straight find-and-replace silently misses those. Then read the restored document once more before sending it.

Last reviewed · 1 source

What goes wrong when restoring

AI assistants usually keep placeholders intact, but not always. Watch for:

  • Changed placeholders, such as [PERSON_1] or [Person 001] instead of [PERSON_001]
  • Merged people, where the AI uses one placeholder for two different parties
  • Invented placeholders that were never in your document
  • Dropped placeholders, where a person you mentioned is missing from the draft
  • Grammar that no longer fits, such as a pronoun or possessive around a restored name

A restore checklist

  1. Ask the AI to keep every placeholder exactly as written, before it drafts.
  2. List every placeholder that appears in the draft and compare it with your key.
  3. Resolve anything unexpected by reading the sentence, not by guessing who it means.
  4. Replace placeholders with real values on your own device.
  5. Read the finished document in full, and keep the restored copy out of the AI chat.

Why the restore should happen locally

Pasting the restored draft, or your placeholder key, back into the chat hands the AI the identities you just removed. Keep the key with the original documents and restore in an editor on your own machine.

Where PiBye fits

How PiBye handles this

PiBye was built for this return trip. Paste the AI’s reply into PiBye or add the returned file, and it matches every stand-in against the private map on your Mac, asks you about ones that were altered or missing, and saves a separate restored copy.

The map and the restored document stay on your Mac. Nothing is sent back to the AI.

PiBye restore screen matching stand-ins in an AI reply to the original details
PiBye restore screen matching stand-ins in an AI reply to the original details

Actual PiBye views rendered at 3× resolution with fictional sample data. Open full-resolution image ↗

Download PiBye for macOSRequirements and install steps

1.0.1 · macOS 14.8.5 or later · Apple Silicon · 1.1 GB

Frequently asked questions

Can I ask the AI to restore the names for me?

Only by giving it the names, which defeats the purpose. Restore on your own device.

What if the AI changed a placeholder?

Read the sentence and decide which person it means. Do not guess; if you cannot tell, ask the AI to redo that section with the original placeholders.

Where should I keep the placeholder key?

With the original documents on your own computer or document system, never in the AI chat or pasted alongside the redacted copy.

Sources

  1. Licensee use of generative artificial intelligence (white paper), Law Society of Ontario, April 2024. Checked 17 September 2026.