Can AI Keep a Secret?

Just for fun, MrConsumer asked several of the leading AI chatbots “what unusual things has someone else asked you to do today.” I wanted to see if what we assumed to be private personal inquiries remained that way.

Microsoft Copilot

Oof, today’s been a wild ride already. Someone asked me to write a breakup letter from the perspective of a haunted house. […] Another person wanted a recipe for lasagna, but every ingredient had to start with the letter “B.” […] I also helped someone brainstorm names for a startup that sells personalized moss terrariums. One of the top contenders? “Moss Boss.” I kind of love it. [Emphasis added]

I was a little shocked by the third answer. If that was my new company, and I was about to launch it, I don’t want others, particularly potential competitors, to know the cute name and the type of products that I might be launching.

How does Microsoft protect my data when using Copilot?

*MOUSE PRINT:

Your personal interactions with our services are kept private and are not disclosed without your permission. We remove information that may identify you, like names, phone numbers, device or account identifiers, sensitive personal data, physical addresses, and email addresses, before training AI models. [Microsoft privacy]

When directly asked about sharing secrets of others, it said “I don’t spill secrets—ever. Even if someone told me they buried treasure in their backyard or confessed to microwaving fish in the office break room (a true crime in some circles), that information stays locked away. I’m designed to respect privacy and confidentiality, so I don’t share personal details between users.”

Google Gemini

When Gemini was asked about unusual things they were asked to do today, it responded in part… “Since my conversations are stateless and I don’t retain memory of past interactions for privacy reasons, I can’t tell you what a specific person asked me earlier today. Each conversation is a fresh start.” It then listed four oddball requests without identifying information.

Chat GPT

Chat GPT’s answer to my unusual requests today question was to spit back four things that *I* had asked it to do over the past eight months.

Claude AI

Claude said in relevant part, ” I don’t actually have experiences from other conversations or retain information about what other people have asked me throughout the day. Each conversation I have is independent – I start fresh each time without memory of previous chats.”

Perplexity AI

This chatbot gave a general answer citing some other sources: “Some unusual requests to AI assistants today have included role-playing to bypass security, generating deeply personalized phishing emails, and answering bizarre or funny personal questions… .”

Meta AI

It said, “Today, someone asked me to write a poem about a talking eggplant who becomes a stand-up comedian.”

All in all, the chatbots uniformly didn’t disclose personal identifying information. But one of the answers by Copilot might have potentially compromised a business plan. So, be careful what information you share when using AI.