Settings you should check first when you start using ChatGPT: A story about a close call while writing complaints about my husband
Hello, I'm Miimi😊
Today, I'm going to talk about
the settings you should check first
if you've just started using AI.
Actually, I had a pretty close call
a little while ago...
I usually use ChatGPT
as a sounding board.
AI isn't just for
asking questions about things you don't know,
you can also have casual chats like,
'Something like this happened today...'
so I end up telling it everything (lol).
And among those things...
there are also complaints about my husband🤣
'He used to have a boiling point as high as tungsten
and never got angry,
but lately he's like liquid nitrogen, what is his deal😠?'
and things like,
'My cleaning is
as inefficient as a Lamborghini,
I can't be a Prius,
so isn't it unnecessary to get that angry?'
and so on...
I was seriously talking about things like that
to the AI (lol).
Since AI listens to you without judging,
before I knew it, not just about work,
but about daily life.
And my thoughts.
Before I knew it,
I had really started telling it everything.
That's why,
one day when I suddenly looked at the settings screen,
I got a chill.
'...Huh?'
"Use this conversation to train the AI"
is turned on😳
In that moment,
various conversations raced through my mind.
"I want to graph my husband's boiling point on the vertical axis and his age on the horizontal axis."
(Oh, wait, there's a difference depending on the day, so maybe I should add error bars...)
"I will become a Dewar flask!"
"Isn't cleaning up a losing game because it goes against the law of increasing entropy?"
"Since I'm a closed system, I can't reduce my belongings..."
Ah, this is bad🤣🤣🤣
My foolish thought process is being learned...
Of course, I wasn't writing down any confidential information.
But as you use AI,
Work matters.
Family matters.
Worries.
Ideas.
Those kinds of slightly private topics naturally increase as well.
That is precisely why,
I seriously thought, "I wish I had checked the settings first 😂".
I really did.
Actually, not just with ChatGPT, but with many generative AIs,
the "use for training" setting is sometimes turned on by default.
Of course, the way to change settings varies by service,
and it may be handled differently for enterprise plans.
But,
"It's probably fine."
Instead of that,
"Check it just once."
I truly believe this one extra step is very important. (Everyone, please don't make the same mistake I did...)
In ChatGPT, you can check this setting here 😊
1. Open ChatGPT "Settings" and tap "Data Controls".
2. Check if "Improve the model for everyone" is turned ON. I keep mine OFF 😊
*The settings screen may change with updates.
I still talk to AI almost every day.
I use it to discuss articles and more.
Bouncing ideas off it,
and sometimes
having heated discussions about my husband's boiling point for the day...
That is precisely why
I feel it is very important
to set up an environment where you can use it with peace of mind
from the very beginning.
If you are reading this article and
"Come to think of it, I've never checked the settings!"
if that sounds like you,
please take just one minute today
to check them 😊
Your future self
might one day think, "I'm glad I checked that back then 😊"
🌱