---
title: "A shared chat is not a private message"
description: "Afraid your AI is leaking your data? Often the leak is in the share button. Here is how you check what you have shared in the past and what your AI is allowed to do with your conversations."
language: en
source: https://coachsteff.live/en/een-gedeelde-chat-is-openbaar
---

# A shared chat is not a private message

You read it regularly in the news: 'ChatGPT leaks user images', or 'private conversations with AI pop up on the internet'. And then you might wonder if everything you have ever typed in a chat is floating around somewhere. I would take those kinds of messages with a pinch of salt. There is definitely something going on, only the leak is usually somewhere else than you think.

That came up in a training session, and I explained how it actually works. Because the part you control yourself is bigger than you expect.

At the bottom of this article you will find a prompt to help you check your own settings. Feel free to copy it.

## Where the leak usually is

People create an image with ChatGPT, or they have a nice conversation, and they want to show it to someone. So they press share. Many people do not realise that they are creating a public link at that moment. That link goes to your image or to your entire chat. Anyone with that link can access it. And there are people with less good intentions who scour the internet for such links, looking for juicy material.

That is how entire chats have ended up on the internet that people thought were private. The AI did not leak anything there. Someone just pressed a button without knowing what that button did. We worry that the AI will spill our secrets, and then we put them on display ourselves. I often say it in my training sessions: humans are the weakest link, also with AI. And the better you know what such a button does, the less exciting those news reports become.

## Frequently asked questions

**Is a shared chat public?**

- Yes, whoever presses share usually creates a public link to the image or the entire chat. Anyone with that link can access it. Revoke shared links that you no longer need.

**Does my AI use my conversations to train?**

- That depends on your tool and your settings. Under privacy there is usually a switch that determines that. Check it and consciously set it the way you want it.

**Can someone else see what I tell my AI?**

- What you say in a chat does not just end up in someone else's answers. The memory of your AI is attached to your profile. Personal data and client lists do not belong in there anyway, certainly not in a public tool.

**Where do I learn to work safely with AI tools?**

- In the AI in the workplace and Claude AI Power User training courses you learn how to use AI tools safely and smartly. You can find all dates at [Workshops & Events](https://coachsteff.live/agenda).