Non-Negotiable Rules to Stop Employees From Leaking Client PII to Public AI Tools

Imagine one of your employees trying to be efficient and uploading a document containing a client’s personal information into a public artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot to draft the perfect email. It feels harmless in the moment but that single upload places a client’s personal information on a third-party system you don’t control. A well-intended shortcut suddenly turns into a risk with real consequences. With public AI tools multiplying and employees hunting for faster ways to work, keeping client personally identifiable information (PII) from slipping into the wrong hands has become a major priority for every business. The rules outlined below give your team clear and actionable guidance to maintain efficiency while keeping client information safe and secure.

Rule 1: Establish a Clear AI Use Policy

The first step in preventing employees from inadvertently sharing client PII with public AI tools is creating a comprehensive AI use policy. Unlike typical workplace policies that are often long, legalistic and rarely read, an AI use policy must be concise, clear and easy to understand. It should spell out straightforward rules in plain language and explicitly define what counts as client PII such as names, addresses, contact details and sensitive health or financial information.

Your AI use policy should provide clear guidance. Employees can use public AI tools for general and non-sensitive tasks like brainstorming or creating marketing content but sharing customer information or proprietary data is not allowed under any circumstances.

Rule 2: Mandatory Security Training for Employees on AI Usage

No matter how carefully you craft your AI use policy, it won’t protect your business if employees aren’t aware of it or don’t appreciate its importance. That is why ongoing and mandatory training on responsible AI use is crucial to help your team understand the risks and how to keep client information safe.

Don’t stop at simply listing the rules in your policy. Show employees the real-world consequences: how a data breach can harm a client, damage your company’s reputation and trigger regulatory fines or lawsuits. Be sure to explain the personal accountability and consequences employees face if sensitive information is mishandled. For instance, in healthcare knowingly leaking patient PII can lead to criminal prosecution and even prison terms for HIPAA violations. This approach transforms the AI use policy from a set of restrictions into a shared mission. 

Rule 3: No Shadow AI – Provide Secure and Approved Alternatives

Simply telling employees “No” when it comes to AI use can backfire and lead them to seek unsanctioned tools through shadow AI practices. The better approach is to offer secure and company-approved AI alternatives. Look for enterprise-level AI providers that guarantee data privacy because their platforms are designed with security in mind to ensure your data won’t be used to train public AI models. Providing your team with these safe and powerful tools not only reduces the temptation to use risky public AI options. It also encourages innovation within the business.

Another approach to preventing shadow AI is to self-host AI models that run entirely within your company’s network without sending data to third-party servers. Self-hosting offers significant benefits including greater control over your data, enhanced privacy, easier regulatory compliance, protection of intellectual property, reproducible results and offline access. The trade-offs include additional costs for hardware and the need to train models using your own data. For businesses that handle sensitive customer PII such as those in healthcare, research or government sectors, self-hosted AI models provide a secure and effective solution.

Rule 4: Setup Technical Controls 

While policies and training establish the foundation for protecting consumer PII, technical safeguards offer an additional layer of protection if employees try to bypass the rules and use shadow AI. Your IT team or a managed service provider can implement several technical controls to block or discourage the use of public AI tools at work. These measures include:

• Blocking Access to Public AI Tools: Use web filtering to prevent employees from reaching known public AI websites and tools while on the company network.
• Implementing Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solutions: A Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solution is especially helpful when your team needs limited or controlled access to public AI tools. DLP tools categorize information by sensitivity, public, private, confidential or restricted and scan for client PII like Social Security numbers or addresses. They automatically block this data from being uploaded to unapproved sites to help prevent both accidental mistakes and intentional breaches.

Your Journey to Secure Innovation Starts Now

Securing your business against AI-related data leaks requires a layered approach that combines clear policies, ongoing training and effective technical controls. The goal is to help employees use AI confidently and responsibly and not to make them fearful of it. By putting these non-negotiable rules in place, you can foster a culture of trust and security that safeguards your customers, your reputation and your bottom line.

At Sound Computers, our experts will help you create a clear and effective AI use policy and implement the technical safeguards needed to keep client PII secure. With the right policies and protections in place, your team can leverage AI confidently and your clients stay protected. Contact us today to get started.