Using AI for Money Help? Here’s How to Protect Your Financial Data Before You Share Anything

AI money help is growing, but so are privacy risks

Consumers who feel financially stretched or unsure how to improve cash flow are increasingly turning to AI chat tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and Claude for budgeting and debt guidance. Before discussing personal finances with any conversational AI, users should understand how to reduce the chance that sensitive information is exposed to third parties who could misuse it.

One key issue: users cannot rely on an AI system to proactively explain how to protect privacy. Depending on how a question is phrased, the tool may—or may not—offer safety guidance.

A prompt shared by Mel Robbins sparked backlash and revisions

Earlier this month, podcaster and author Mel Robbins urged Instagram followers to use Microsoft Copilot to help manage their finances. In the caption of her video, she said she had partnered with Microsoft Copilot.

In the comments, Robbins shared a suggested prompt that included: “I’ll share documents like bank statements, debt statements, bills, and income info when you ask.” The post and the prompt did not include advice to redact sensitive data.

A spokesperson for Robbins’ office said via email that Copilot provided privacy warnings when someone entered Robbins’ exact prompt, and the spokesperson shared the reply text they received. However, when CNN tested Robbins’ prompt in the free version of Copilot, it received slightly different responses and did not see the same type of privacy warning.

Asked about the discrepancy, a Microsoft spokesperson said that “responses will vary even when the questions are the same or similar,” adding that Copilot, like other conversational AI assistants, adapts to conversation flow, tone, and context.

After criticism from followers, Robbins acknowledged the concerns in the comments last Friday and thanked users for the feedback. She also updated her recommended prompt, replacing the line about sharing statements with: “Always remind me to remove personal information.”

The amended prompt produced clearer safety warnings

CNN reported that the revised wording changed the interaction substantially. When CNN used Robbins’ updated prompt, every Copilot reply during the exchange included privacy warnings.

The first warning was the most detailed: “First, a quick safety thing: Please don’t share any personal information like your full name, account numbers, addresses, employer details, or anything that could identify you. If you copy numbers from a statement, remove names, account IDs, and exact dates.”

Why sharing financial documents with AI can be dangerous

Common documents such as a bank statement, W-2, tax return, or credit card statement can reveal far more than spending habits. They may include a phone number, email address, income, debts, bank routing numbers, employee ID, taxpayer ID, and Social Security number.

Uploading unredacted documents introduces multiple risks. Rachel Tobac, CEO of SocialProof Security, said there is a chance the information could be “hacked, leaked or breached.” If that happens, users could face identity theft, account takeover, or theft from bank accounts, according to Tobac, who has worked with teams focused on security, privacy, and abuse prevention at many major AI providers.

Gang Wang, an associate professor of computer science at the University of Illinois’ Grainger College of Engineering, said the privacy risk is tied to how models retain information: “The privacy risk comes from the fact that AI memorizes stuff.” He added that if documents become part of training data, there is a risk that a malicious actor could use a specially crafted prompt to induce the model to reveal information.

Tobac also warned that even limited leakage could support sophisticated scams. If an AI tool accidentally exposed a credit card statement, an attacker could create a convincing phishing message posing as one of the merchants listed, using details such as purchase dates, merchant names, and amounts.

Steps to reduce exposure before asking an AI for financial guidance

Before using an AI assistant for free money advice, Wang recommends checking the tool’s latest privacy and data retention policies, noting they can change often. He also cautions against relying on the AI itself to summarize policies, since it may have been trained on outdated versions.

Wang said paid or enterprise versions of AI tools may offer stronger protections than free versions, though the degree varies by product and tier. A Microsoft spokesperson said Copilot users can choose “which types of information it remembers,” can opt out entirely, and can ask Copilot to remember, update, or delete specific facts at any time.

Wang also advises explicitly opting out of allowing a model to train on your data, noting that the opt-out process may not be obvious and may require searching.

For any information you do share, Tobac and Wang recommend heavy redaction of personally identifying details and transaction specifics such as store names, locations, and dates. As an alternative, users can avoid uploading statements and instead provide broad, anonymous spending categories with monthly estimates (for example: housing $2,500, credit cards $1,000, transportation $200, food $750).

Finally, Wang suggests a simple test: assume whatever you tell an AI could be shared with others, and decide whether that outcome matters. Tobac adds that users should trust their instincts if something feels off, warning that people may treat AI tools like fiduciaries even though cloud-based AI providers set policies based on their own interests, not necessarily the user’s.