Your Privacy Rights and AI: What You Can Ask Companies to Do

Data-protection laws give people rights over their personal information, and these rights apply when companies use AI. The details vary by country, but the themes are common.

General information only, not legal advice.

• To be informed about how your data is collected and used.
• Access: to see the personal data a company holds about you.
• Correction: to fix inaccurate information.
• Erasure: to ask for deletion in certain circumstances.
• Objection or restriction: to limit certain uses, such as direct marketing.
• Portability: to receive your data in a usable format.
• Automated decisions: protections against significant decisions made solely by automated systems, including the right to human review in some places.

• Was my data used to train a model?
• Can a model reveal personal information it learned?
• How are profiles and inferences about me created?
• Is my voice, face or writing being used?
• How are chat logs stored and reviewed?

1. Read the privacy policy for AI features: training, retention and sharing.
2. Use available settings: opt out of training or history where offered.
3. Make a data request (a subject access request) in writing. Keep a copy.
4. Ask for human review of important automated decisions about credit, jobs or services.
5. Delete accounts and data you no longer need.
6. Complain to the company, then to your data-protection authority if unresolved.

• Share only what's needed.
• Avoid pasting sensitive personal data into AI tools.
• Use separate accounts for work and personal use.
• Review app permissions regularly.

Respect these rights: document your data uses, offer clear choices, respond to requests on time and don't train on personal data without a lawful basis.

You have more control than you may think. Ask questions, use the settings and exercise your rights.