Sort it first
Use three colours:
- Green: public or made up, for example published papers or the practice files in our journeys. Any tool.
- Yellow: internal but not sensitive, such as a protocol draft without names. Only tools your organisation has approved, which means it has a business agreement with the provider.
- Red: personal or patient data, sample IDs that point to people, unpublished results, anything under an NDA (a non-disclosure agreement). Nowhere, unless someone who may decide has cleared this exact use in writing.
When in doubt, go one colour up.
Working with red data anyway
Remove names and anything that points to a person, ask about the method instead of pasting the data, or use a model that runs on your own laptop (see T11-L01 · Run an AI Model on Your Own Laptop, Offline). The full rule, with examples, is in T12-L01 · Decide What You May Paste Into AI at Work.