A growing number of Australians are turning to artificial intelligence for everyday advice, but experts are warning that uploading personal documents could put private information at risk.
AI Use on the Rise
With AI now a regular part of daily life for more than half of Australians, experts say many users remain unaware of the privacy risks associated with uploading personal documents.
Financial expert Betsy Westcott told Sunrise on Monday that while the convenience is tempting, uploading personal information to AI platforms poses significant risks. “Anything that’s got your name, your address, your date of birth, your bank account numbers, any of your Medicare details — those are the things that you don’t want to be putting into AI,” she said.
Expert Warnings
Westcott warned that if you aren’t comfortable sharing the information with a stranger, then you “probably shouldn’t be uploading it to an AI platform.” She noted that these platforms are not designed to be financial advice services and are therefore not regulated in the same way financial advisors are. “They don’t have an obligation to give you the best advice based on your circumstances,” she said. “Good luck suing Google because Gemini legitimately breached the ATO laws.”
Platforms like ChatGPT are not intended to provide financial advice, and users should be cautious.
Safe Alternatives
Westcott recommended Australians seek financial guidance from legitimate and regulated sources, including moneysmart.gov.au, financial counsellors, financial educators, or regulated financial advisors.
For those who have already uploaded sensitive documents, Westcott advised deleting the chat immediately and checking the platform’s memory settings, as information can be stored in multiple locations, including chat history, file libraries and memory banks.
