The short version
- We set AI up on your accounts, in your business’s name. You own your data and the accounts, and they stay with you.
- We use the business versions of each tool and turn off training on your data wherever the vendor lets us.
- Sensitive information never goes into free consumer AI apps or anyone’s personal account.
- Medical and dental offices: patient information only goes into HIPAA-eligible tools covered by a signed BAA.
- AI drafts, people decide. You choose what can go out on its own and what waits for a person.
- You grant us access, you can take it away anytime, and we never keep your passwords in plain text.
- We sign an NDA on request, before we look at anything.
Your accounts, your data
Every AI subscription, automation, spreadsheet and document we set up lives in accounts that belong to your business and are billed to you directly by the vendor. We don’t run your work through our own accounts, and we don’t keep copies of your files on our computers longer than a job needs.
Your data stays yours: your emails, customer lists, prices, drawings, books and everything the AI produces from them. The instructions, templates and how-to guides we write for your setup are yours to keep using. If you stop working with us, everything keeps running on your accounts, we hand over our notes, and we remove our own access.
We never use your data to train anything, and we never show it to other clients. When we show examples on this website or to anyone else, we use made-up sample data.
Business settings, no training
The free, personal versions of AI apps are built for individuals, and some may use what you type to improve their models. For your business we use the business or work plans of each tool. Where a plan or setting lets you keep your data out of model training, we turn that on, and we check how long each tool keeps chat history and set it to fit your business.
Vendors change their plans and terms, so we check these settings when we set things up and again at each quarterly check-in on the monthly care plan. If you want the longer explanation, read Is it safe to put my business data into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini?
What never goes into consumer AI
Some information doesn’t go into a free or personal AI app, ever: patient records, Social Security and tax ID numbers, bank and card numbers, passwords, employee files, and client files from law, accounting and insurance offices. We set up your tools with that rule built in, and we teach your team the same rule in training, with a short list of do’s and don’ts for your office.
Medical and dental offices
Patient information (what HIPAA calls protected health information) only goes into HIPAA-eligible tools covered by a signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA) between your practice and the vendor. If a vendor won’t sign a BAA, that tool doesn’t touch patient information. It can still help with work that has none in it, like a job posting, a newsletter or a blank appointment-reminder template.
We set things up so we don’t need to see patient records. If a project would require us to, we sign a BAA with your practice before we start. A HIPAA-eligible tool still needs the right settings and the right people on it, so we go through who has access with your office manager. More on our medical and dental page.
Law, accounting and insurance offices
Client confidentiality comes first. Client matters stay in tools covered by your firm’s business agreements, we follow your firm’s confidentiality rules and your IT person’s security setup, and we only open the files a task needs. More on our law, accounting and insurance page.
A person checks the work
AI is fast and useful, and it still gets things wrong. So AI drafts and people decide. Quotes, proposals, invoices, bids, contracts and anything with a dollar amount get reviewed by a person on your team before they go out. You decide which simple messages can go on their own, like an after-hours “we got your message, we’ll call you in the morning” text, and your written how-to lists exactly which steps are automatic.
We hold our own systems to the same rule. In our estimating setup, three AI models check each other’s quantities, and a person still reviews the numbers before a price goes out.
Access and passwords
- You grant access. Where a tool allows it, you add us as our own user, so we never need your personal login. We only ask for the access a job needs.
- No plain-text passwords. We never keep your passwords in plain text: not in emails, texts, notes or spreadsheets. If a login has to be shared, it goes into a password manager, and we turn on two-step login where the tool offers it.
- Connections are labeled. Keys and app connections are created in your accounts, named so you can tell what each one does, and listed in your how-to.
- You can take it back anytime. Remove our user or turn off a connection whenever you want. At the end of a project we remove our own access and tell you when it’s done.
NDAs
Just ask, and we’ll sign a non-disclosure or confidentiality agreement before we look at any of your files, client lists or pricing. Law, accounting and insurance offices often ask, and so do contractors who’d rather keep their numbers to themselves.
Companies whose tools we use
Which tools your business uses depends on your project, and you see each one, with its price, before you sign up. These are the companies whose tools we most often set up or connect:
- Anthropic (Claude): AI assistant for writing, summarizing, reading documents and checking work.
- OpenAI (ChatGPT): AI assistant for drafts, replies, summaries and research.
- Google (Gemini, Google Workspace, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Sheets, Google Business Profile): AI inside Google’s office tools, plus email, calendars, spreadsheets and your business listing.
- Microsoft (Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft 365, Outlook, Excel): AI inside Microsoft’s office tools, plus email, calendars and spreadsheets.
- Intuit (QuickBooks): bookkeeping and invoicing.
- Zoho: books, invoicing and customer records.
- Zapier: connecting one app to another.
- Make: connecting one app to another.
- Twilio: phone numbers, calls and texts for AI receptionists.
- RingCentral: business phone systems.
- Bluebeam: drawings and takeoffs for contractors.
- AppFolio: property management software we connect to.
- Buildium: property management software we connect to.
- Netlify: website hosting and forms.
Naming a company here doesn’t mean we’re partnered with it. We’re independent, we don’t resell software, and none of these companies pays us. Each one has its own terms and privacy policy, which apply when you use their tools.
If something goes wrong
If we ever learn that your data was exposed through something we set up, we’ll tell you promptly, help you shut it off, and help you work out what needs to happen next. If you spot something odd, like an AI reply that shouldn’t have gone out, call or text us and we’ll look right away.
Changes and contact
We’ll update this page when our practices change and change the effective date at the top. This policy is governed by the laws of the State of New York. For how this website handles form submissions, see our privacy policy; for the website rules, see our terms.
Questions, or want to go through this with us before you start? Call or text (518) 704-3125 (Mon–Fri 7 AM–5 PM), or write to us at the address below.