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Never Use ChatGPT for These Five Tasks

ChatGPT can explain and draft, but it is not a lawyer or clinician and is not a place for passwords or unapproved confidential work information.
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“Never use ChatGPT for these five tasks” is a useful rule of thumb for situations where a fluent answer can be mistaken for professional judgment or where a prompt could expose information you must protect. Use a qualified professional for personal legal, medical, or mental-health needs; keep restricted work information in approved systems; and leave passwords and identity details out of prompts. ChatGPT can still help explain general concepts, support coding, or draft material—but verify anything consequential before acting on it.

1. Personal legal advice about a live problem

ChatGPT can explain general legal concepts or help you organize questions, but it is not your lawyer. A tailored answer about a dispute, filing, contract, or deadline may be wrong, omit important facts, or cite authorities that do not support the claim. The risk is greater when you act on the answer or share sensitive details about a live matter.

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Damien Charlotin’s AI Hallucination Cases Database displayed 2,149 identified decisions when last updated October 5, 2026. It tracks decisions in which courts or tribunals address AI hallucinations or related material; Charlotin describes it as a work in progress, not a count of every false citation or every alleged use of AI in court. It does not show that every AI-assisted filing is sanctioned, or establish how often a chatbot gives incorrect legal information.

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Safer next step: For advice about your rights, options, deadlines, or a specific dispute, consult a qualified lawyer in the relevant jurisdiction. You can use a chatbot to learn vocabulary or draft questions for that conversation, but verify general explanations and do not treat them as advice for your case.

2. Therapy, counseling, or mental-health crisis support

A chatbot may offer conversation, but it cannot assess you as a clinician, provide therapy, or step in with real-world support during a crisis. If you may hurt yourself or someone else, or cannot stay safe, contact local emergency services or a crisis service and reach a trusted person. For ongoing distress or treatment questions, contact a qualified mental-health professional.

Safeguards and response behavior can change. In an October 27, 2025 update, OpenAI said it worked with more than 170 mental-health experts to improve responses to signs of distress and guide people toward real-world support. The company said this work reduced responses falling short of its desired behavior by 65–80%; that is OpenAI’s description of its own program and evaluation, not an independent clinical finding. OpenAI also estimated that 0.15% of weekly active users had conversations containing explicit indicators of potential suicidal planning or intent, and cautioned that rare-event estimates may change with methods and user behavior. Neither figure predicts how a particular conversation will go. OpenAI’s safety update explains its estimates and approach.

3. Confidential work, client, or contract-restricted information

Do not paste employer documents, client records, source code, credentials, or contract-restricted material into an unapproved consumer tool. Even when a service offers privacy controls, whether a particular use is permitted depends on the tool, account settings, provider terms, applicable law, and your organization’s rules. A private conversation is not automatically the same thing as an approved confidential workplace system.

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Safer next step: Check your employer’s policy and use only the AI products, accounts, and workflows it has approved for that type of information. If approval is unclear, ask your security, legal, or IT team before sharing anything. Remove sensitive details only if policy permits using the remaining material.

4. Medical advice about symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, or medication

A chatbot can make mistakes or give unsafe suggestions, and it cannot examine you, review your complete medical record, or take responsibility for your care. Do not use it to decide whether symptoms are urgent, diagnose a condition, start or stop treatment, or change a medication dose. Seek a qualified health professional; for severe or rapidly worsening symptoms, use local emergency care.

Do not assume that HIPAA protects information sent to every chatbot. HIPAA applies to covered health actors and their business associates in defined circumstances; it does not automatically apply to a consumer AI service simply because a prompt contains health information. Which privacy and professional obligations apply depends on who is handling the information and the circumstances.

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5. Passwords, one-time codes, and identity or account details

Keep passwords, one-time verification codes, full financial account details, government ID numbers, and images of identity documents out of prompts. These are secrets or identifiers that can enable account access, fraud, or identity misuse. A request to troubleshoot an account should not require you to disclose a password or verification code.

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ChatGPT conversations are not all public or handled under one universal retention rule. In July 2025, Fast Company reported that conversations users had opted to make discoverable could appear in Google results; its site search found nearly 4,500 results on July 30 and the publication said that count was likely incomplete. OpenAI later removed that discoverability feature. Fast Company’s report concerns that specific opt-in feature, not every conversation.

Separately, Engadget reported on October 11, 2025 that a broad order requiring preservation of ChatGPT output logs going forward had ended, with exceptions for some previously preserved or flagged-account data. That account describes a past legal proceeding, not a universal current retention policy. Access, retention, and privacy depend on the service, settings, terms, and circumstances. Engadget’s account of the order explains the limits and exceptions it reported.

Safer next step: Describe the account problem without including secrets or full identifiers. If you have already shared a password or one-time code, change the password through the service’s official site or app, revoke active sessions where available, and follow the provider’s account-security guidance.

What should you never tell ChatGPT?

Do not disclose information that must remain secret or that you would not put into the specific service under its applicable settings and terms: passwords, one-time codes, full payment or bank details, government identity numbers, identity-document images, or confidential work and client material not approved for that tool. A conversation’s privacy and retention are not identical across products or contexts, and professional privilege, legal discovery, and employer rules are separate questions—not guarantees created by calling a chat private.

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When ChatGPT can still be useful

For lower-stakes tasks, ChatGPT can help explain a general concept, brainstorm, draft text, or assist with code. Keep prompts free of secrets and restricted material, and independently verify claims before relying on them—especially when law, health, safety, or money is involved. Use a professional for individualized decisions and an organization-approved workflow for protected work information.

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