Permission and purpose means deciding why information is needed, who may use it and where it may go. Possessing a document does not, by itself, settle whether its contents belong in a public site or an external AI service.
Start with the smallest amount of information that can support the task. Customer details, staff records, account credentials and confidential commercial terms deserve deliberate handling. Check your actual agreements, internal responsibilities and the tool's applicable settings before transferring material.
A small-business example
A business wants help finding patterns in delivery delays. The working export includes customer names, phone numbers and delivery instructions alongside dates and route codes.
For an initial comparison by route and week, names and phone numbers may add nothing. The team makes a separate working copy containing only the necessary fields, checks free-text columns for identifying details and keeps the original in its controlled location. The chosen fields still need to be appropriate for the destination.
Try this
Review one dataset you intend to share. For each column, finish the sentence: “This task needs this field because…” Remove unnecessary fields from the working copy. Confirm who owns the decision about the remaining information and document the intended destination and use.
Use Data inventory to locate sensitive sources, Set the boundary to narrow the task and Publish with care before any material becomes public.