6. Data Privacy When Working with AI

Before you show a table to an outside AI service, think about what is in it. Personal data (names, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, addresses), salaries, and commercial terms often can't leave the company. Privacy laws (such as GDPR or CCPA) and your employer's policy may forbid it.

• Microsoft 365 Copilot for organizations operates inside your organization's protected boundary, while a free chatbot in a browser does not. Find out which tool is approved;
• share the minimum: to ask "how do I total by city," the AI doesn't need client names. The column structure or an aggregated table is enough;
• pseudonymization: replace names with a code such as "C001" and phone numbers with a mask such as "***0134";
• Python in Excel also sends data from xl() to the Microsoft cloud. For especially sensitive workbooks, check your company's policy.

In this lesson you'll prepare a "safe" version of a client table.