Is it safe to upload documents to ChatGPT or another AI?

What happens to an uploaded document

The provider processes the file on its servers to answer you, keeps it for a period set by its policies, and may use it to improve models depending on your plan and settings. Anthropic, for example, keeps consumer chats for 30 days if you decline training and up to five years if you allow it.

Uploading also creates a copy outside your control. Regulators describe the concern directly: the Law Society of Ontario warns that information “can easily find its way into the public domain” depending on the tool.

A quick test before you upload

• Would it matter if this document were read by someone outside your organisation?
• Does it contain names, contact details, ID or account numbers, health or financial details?
• Does your employer, regulator or client restrict sharing it with third parties?
• Does the task actually need those details?

Making sensitive uploads safer

Use a copy with identifying details replaced, check your account’s data settings, prefer plans with contractual data terms for work, and keep originals and any placeholder key off the AI platform. Canada’s privacy regulators ask organisations to disclose personal information only as needed.