The number one question one on every business owners mind at the minute is: “How can we use AI to improve our efficiency and workflow, and cut costs doing it?”. And it’s an important question! Why not use such a powerful tool?

But how many business owners are aware that it always comes with a cost? AI is trained on data that is put in to it, and often it’s safer to assume that your chat isn’t private, and that the data you are putting in to it may escape your conversation with your assistant, and be seen by somebody who absolutely was not the intended party.

It’s important to remember these key details whenever you put something in to a chatbot, to keep your business safe, and keep liability to a minimum:

1. Have you made sure that your Output is proofread by a human? Often AI can lack credibility, so it’s always best to make sure that what you’re sending to somebody is actually true!

2. Have you obfuscated any sensitive data? Remember that sometimes removing names from a document simply isn’t enough. In many cases, such as medical records, people can be identified by much more than just a name. How many 7 foot tall people live in Swansea? Also make sure that any private keys, licence keys, and billing information doesn’t make it’s way in to the stew!

3. Are you making sure that you’re only paying for what you use? With the rise of AI being in all new software, the important question to ask yourself is: Do I even need this? In many cases, you’ll be surprised where costs creep for little benefit.

4. Are you making sure that your IT is able to keep up with your AI? With the right licence, Microsoft 365 gives IT Administrators incredible control over what staff can put in to Copilot. Using sensitivity labels, you can mark important data as just that, something important that AI knows is too sensitive to touch!

5. Are your AI agents restricted? If you’re using Agents, remember to limit their scope and control their roles responsibly. Your AI agent for RSVP’s shouldn’t be able to change passwords, nor should it be able to read any of your data that isn’t relevant to its task.