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What Solo Female Entrepreneurs Need to Know: Essential Knowledge for Using AI Safely

伊藤ようこ| 強み×IT×AIで女性起業家をサポート| 自己受容から始まるしなやかな生き方note

2026年2月7日 07:00

To you, who is on the verge of burnout from carrying everything alone,

I am Yoko Ito, a 'Dedicated Manager for Solo Female Entrepreneurs,' leveraging 38 years of administrative experience to lighten the practical and emotional burden of female entrepreneurs.

Let's discover your strengths and organize your IT tools together, so you can confidently shift from a hobby-like approach to a professional one.

Don't push yourself too hard alone; take a deep breath, and let's start together.

AI is a truly reliable partner for female entrepreneurs, helping with writing, brainstorming, and streamlining tasks.

I myself have been saved many times by the sense of security that comes with,
'not having to think about everything alone,'
'being able to bounce ideas off someone without worrying about what they think,'
and having that kind of support.

However, on the other hand,there are some minimum things you need to know to use it with peace of mind.We want to co-create with AI safely, after understanding both the pros and cons, don't we?

One point to pay attention to is,'how the content you input might be handled.'That is the point.

Is it possible that AI uses the content you input for learning?

In many generative AI services, the text and operation history entered by users may be used for:

・Service improvement
・AI model quality enhancement (learning/training)

purposes.

In general generative AI services (such as ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.), even in free versions or paid individual plans, the design is often such that input content is used for AI learning.

On the other hand, for enterprise and business plans, there are many cases where the initial setting is 'do not use for learning'.

In other words, rather than 'it's free, so it's used for learning,' the structure is often that 'individual plans = used for learning' and 'business plans = not used.'

In short, if a sole proprietor decides to try out AI and picks up something like ChatGPT, they need to be aware of the premise that,'if you don't change any settings, it may be used for learning.'

Points to note for each major AI tool (from a practical perspective)

ChatGPT (OpenAI)

Consumer services have settings enabled by default..

ChatGPT has a setting to turn off 'data sharing for model improvement'.

When this setting is turned off,

・Your input content
・The AI's output content

will not be used for future model training.

※Please note that for the purposes of preventing misuse and ensuring safety,
data may be retained for up to 30 days
(it will not be used for training).

On the other hand, enterprise services such as ChatGPT Business, ChatGPT Enterprise, and the API platform are off by default.

OpenAI How your data is used to improve model performance
Below is a partial summary.
Consumer services are enabled by default. It may be used for model training. If you turn the setting off, new conversations will not be used for model training. This means that conversations from before you turned it off may have already been used.
Since it may be used for model training, do not provide feedback.

How your data is used to improve model performance

OpenAI Sora - Data Controls FAQ
To prevent learning in both Sora and Codex, you need to turn off the settings individually.

Sora - Data Controls FAQ

Google Gemini

With Google personal accounts (@gmail.com),

・Conversations with Gemini
・Usage history

are set to be saved and used by default.

This means that this information may be used for future AI model improvement and training.

Turning off Gemini 'Activity' (not saving) brings both privacy benefits and disadvantages in terms of convenience and personalization.

Benefits (when turned off)

It will no longer be used for AI model training
Since subsequent conversation content will no longer be used as AI training data by Google, this is suitable for those who want to avoid having sensitive work information or personal details used for training.
Reduced history storage and enhanced privacy protection
Future chats will not be saved to your Google account and "Gemini Apps Activity" history will not be kept, which reduces the risk of information leakage from your device or account.
You can stop the reference of past conversation history
By selecting "Turn off and delete activity," you can delete past conversation history in bulk, eliminating the discomfort of having your information remain in the cloud.

Disadvantages (when turned off)

Context continuity and personalization become weaker
Because the AI cannot refer to past chats, it becomes difficult to continue talking about the same topic or generate responses tailored to your preferences or field of expertise, resulting in a "conversation from scratch every time."
Some convenient features will be restricted
Features that rely on activity, such as "recommended suggestions," "summarization functions," and "assistance with related requests" based on conversation history, may become unavailable.
Short-term temporary storage remains
Even if you turn it off, conversation content may be temporarily stored and used for up to about 72 hours for service operation and fraud prevention, so please note that it is not completely deleted immediately.

When "Off" is recommended
- You handle highly confidential content, such as in a sole proprietorship, consulting, or counseling
- "I don't want my data used for AI training" is your top priority
- You don't need to keep conversation history, or you are the type who manages history you want to keep by taking manual notes
When it is okay to keep it "on"
- For daily information gathering, brainstorming, or casual chat where almost no personal information is included
- When you prioritize "personalized responses" that leverage conversation context and past interactions

On the other hand, Google Workspace and Workspace for Education for businesses have this training usage turned off by default.

When handling customer information or business data in your work, a Workspace contract is safer in terms of security than a personal account.

NotebookLM

NotebookLM is fundamentally not used for training. Therefore, there is no on/off setting.

Google values your privacy, and your organization's data is never used to train NotebookLM.

Your organization's or school's data will not be made public. For personal users, data is not used for training unless you share feedback.

They state this clearly.
Therefore, for personal users, it is important not to send feedback.

Furthermore, if you read the NotebookLM help page, it states that for business Google Workspace and Workspace for Education, uploads, queries, and model responses are neither reviewed by human reviewers nor used for training, so they are protected more strictly.

Perplexity

Perplexity has a setting called "AI Data Retention".

If you turn this off,

・Search queries
・Prompts
・Contents of uploaded files

will no longer be used for future AI training.

When using it for work, I think this setting is almost essential.

Why do you need to be concerned about "how input content is handled"?

The data that AI may handle is not limited to just your prompts (questions).

・Input and output content
・Operation logs
・Feedback
・Security-related information

may also be included.

Therefore, the expert warning that it is dangerous to input personal or confidential information as-is is by no means an exaggeration.

3 Basics for Female Entrepreneurs to Use AI Safely

1. Do not input personal information

As a rule, do not input names, addresses, phone numbers, or customer email lists into AI.
This is also important from the perspective of your duty of confidentiality to clients.

2. Summarize or abstract confidential information

There is no need to input the original text of contracts or the full details of your business know-how.
You can input them as-is.

・Only the structure
・Only the concepts
・In a generalized form

By asking questions in this way, you can obtain sufficient hints.

3. Use learning opt-out and history management

If there is a setting to prevent your data from being used for learning, be sure to turn it off.

And, use it with the premise that
it does not disappear completely.

Do not input it in the first place
—this is the best safety measure.

Next, I will explain the specific setting procedures to prevent learning for major AI tools, complete with diagrams.

[With Illustrations] Concrete Steps to Prevent Your Data from Being Used for Training

How to prevent ChatGPT from using your data for training

1. Click on Settings.

2. Go to Data Controls and toggle off "Improve the model for everyone." If the toggle is blue, it means it is on and your data is being used for training.