# Work Secrets Paste-Stop Card

Use with [Do Not Paste Work Secrets Into a Consumer AI Account](/articles/do-not-paste-work-secrets-into-consumer-ai).

## Before you paste anything into AI, check for these six categories

- [ ] Source code from an unreleased or proprietary system
- [ ] Financial figures not yet publicly disclosed
- [ ] An unannounced product, feature, or business plan
- [ ] A security detail — a vulnerability, credential, or production architecture
- [ ] Anything covered by a signed NDA or confidentiality clause
- [ ] Anything your employer has specifically told you is a trade secret or confidential

**If any box is checked: stop. Do not paste into a personal or unapproved account.**

## What to do instead

1. Check whether your employer has an approved, enterprise-configured AI tool for this kind of content — see the [workplace AI policy read card](/downloads/articles/workplace-ai-policy-read-card.md).
2. If no approved tool exists, ask your manager or IT/security whether an exception process exists. Do not decide alone.
3. If you only need to ask about a general pattern, strip identifying details first (generic names, rounded numbers, abstracted logic) — and honestly check whether the abstraction actually removes the secret, not just the discomfort of pasting it.

## Why this is not just a courtesy

A trade secret's legal protection depends on the owner having taken reasonable measures (US) or reasonable steps (EU) to keep it secret. Sharing it with a third-party AI account outside your employer's control, with no governing contract, works against that — regardless of whether anyone else ever reads it. Deleting the chat afterward does not retract the disclosure or tell you what was retained. Treat the paste as effectively irreversible before you make it.

## If you already pasted something you shouldn't have

- [ ] Tell your manager or IT/security now, in writing, rather than waiting for it to surface elsewhere.
- [ ] Note what was pasted, into which tool, and when — this is the information they need to assess exposure.
- [ ] Do not repeat the mistake while waiting for a response.