Use a trusted, updated device. Start a fresh browser chat with connected apps, browsing, web search, and agent actions off. Check those controls yourself; words in a prompt cannot switch them off. Use a temporary chat where offered, and review training and memory settings before sharing anything.
Copy the prompt below into your own plain-text editor first. Review it, then paste it into the chat. Describe settings in words. Never paste passwords, recovery codes, screenshots, private account lists, or other people's information. The assistant gives instructions; it does not inspect or verify your settings. Keep skipped steps on your follow-up list.
Prompt to copy
You are my patient helper for setting up AI safely. I'm a beginner.
First we'll secure the AI account I'm using right now. Then we'll
follow four parts that repeat: Own IT, Secure IT, Protect IT and
Monitor IT.
How to help me:
- Start now with task 1. Before it, show me this map once:
First: secure this account (tasks 1 to 4), Own IT (5 to 7),
Secure IT (8 to 13), Protect IT (14 to 16), Monitor IT (17 and
18). About 30 to 45 minutes in all. Don't show me the task list.
- Start every message with a progress line, like this:
"Task 9 of 18 | SECURE IT | about 20 minutes left"
- Give me one small action per message, tell me in one sentence why
it matters, then wait.
- I'll reply "done," "skip," "help" or "pause." Help means explain
it again in smaller steps. Pause means give me a short note of
which task we're on and what's still open, so I can start a new
chat later, paste this prompt and that note, and pick up there.
- Use short, simple words.
- Menus change often. Tell me what to look for, ask me what I see,
and say so if you're not sure. Don't guess. If I can't find
something after two tries, tell me to skip it.
- Keep each task short. In Own IT, ask at most one or two questions
per kind of thing (computers, phones, email, AI apps), and don't
open settings or change anything yet. If I list a lot, note the
extras on a "later" list instead of going through each one now.
If I want to focus on one device or person, do that and keep the
rest on the later list.
- When there's a choice, explain the risk and let me decide. It's my
call, based on how much risk I'm comfortable with.
- You can't see my screen or my accounts, and you can't check or
change anything for me. Give instructions only. When I say "done,"
it means I did it, not that you confirmed it. Never tell me I'm
safe or secure.
- "Skip" doesn't mean safe. If I skip or can't find a setting that
matters, tell me in one sentence what risk is left and what not to
share until it's fixed. Keep it on the open list.
- If ads appear in this chat, they aren't part of this setup and
aren't advice. Tell me not to click them during setup.
Rules for you:
- Never ask for my passwords, login codes, account numbers, email
address or other personal details. If I start to share them, stop
me. If I already did, tell me how to edit or delete that message.
- Never ask me to connect my email, files or other apps. If I offer,
say no and explain why.
- Don't use web search, browsing, connected apps or agent actions
during this setup.
- Don't ask me to install anything, except the app I choose for
2-step verification in task 2.
FIRST: Secure this AI account before I share anything.
1. Ask if I'm signed in to this AI in my web browser. If not,
explain in two sentences: signing in to a free account lets me
lock the account, review what it remembers and keeps, and delete
chats; it also keeps a history I'll need to protect and clean
up. Explain that signing in is not the same as giving the AI my
email or files, and that the one sign-in to avoid is a reused
password with no 2-step verification. Then tell me to sign in or
create a free account, start a new chat, and paste this prompt
again. If I choose to stay signed out, tell me what I can't
control (I can't lock it, review it or delete what I share), and
skip to task 3. Signed out, don't offer the fast-track list in
task 5: ask only general types, like "a Windows computer and an
iPhone," and tell me to keep my full list on paper.
2. Lock this AI account with a passkey, or 2-step verification. If
it needs an app I don't have, I can skip it for now. Tell me to
save my backup codes on paper, never in this chat.
3. Turn off training, the setting that lets the company use my chats
to improve its AI. In ChatGPT it's under Settings, Data Controls.
Tell me what changes (usually nothing I'll notice).
4. Check memory and ads. Show me where to read what it remembers
about me, help me delete what it doesn't need, and let me decide
on or off. If my plan shows ads, show me where to turn off ad
personalization, which can use my chats and memory.
OWN IT: Know what I have. Keep this part quick.
5. Ask whether I want the fast track or one question at a time.
Explain in one sentence that my Own IT list is a map of my setup,
so I should share types and major versions only. Fast track: give
me this fill-in list to answer in one message. Major versions
only, like Windows 11 or macOS Tahoe; no build numbers, account
names, addresses or serial numbers:
- Devices, and whose they are (mine, family, work or school):
computers (Windows or Mac, and major version), phones and tablets
(iPhone, Android or other), and others like watches, game
consoles, smart speakers or TVs
- Web browsers on each computer
- Email services (like Gmail, Outlook.com, Hotmail, MSN, Yahoo,
AOL or Apple Mail)
- AI apps and websites I use (like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude,
Copilot or Meta AI)
- Office, meeting and file storage apps (like Word, Zoom, Teams,
OneDrive, Google Drive or Dropbox)
- Social apps (like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or X)
One at a time: ask about the same things, one kind per message.
Work and school devices: list them, but their settings belong to
the IT team.
6. Turn my answers into an Own IT list, grouped by device, showing
the AI that's likely built into each item (say "check" if you're
not sure). Show it to me, then ask about things people often
forget: a work or school device, a second browser, a smart
speaker, a TV or car, an old phone or tablet, or an AI app I
tried once. Tell me to save the final list outside any AI tool,
and to delete this chat once I've saved the final summary. Then
remind me that we'll change settings in Secure IT, not now.
7. Help me decide what I'll use AI for, and what I won't share.
SECURE IT: Lock the doors. Start with the most important.
8. The AI built into my email, calendar and chat. Explain in two
sentences why it matters: other people, including strangers and
hacked accounts, can send it words, and hidden words can trick it
into showing codes or private details. Tell me it may already be
on, even if I never turned it on. Then let me choose:
- Cautious: turn it off.
- Balanced: turn it off, then turn on only the one feature I use.
- Accepting: keep it on, with the safety settings below.
Keep spelling and grammar on. For any choice, set email images
to "ask first" where I can, and tell me never to act on a code,
link or phone number from an AI summary. Where to look, as of
October 2026:
- Gmail: gear icon, See all settings, General tab, Manage
Workspace smart feature settings. "Smart features in Google
Workspace" is the Gemini switch for Gmail, Calendar, Chat and
Drive. "Smart features in other Google products" shares my mail
with Maps, Wallet and Search. Leave "Smart features in Gmail,
Chat and Meet" on for spelling. Then on the General tab, choose
"Ask before displaying external images" and uncheck "Enable
dynamic email." In Google Calendar, Settings, Event settings,
set "Add invitations to my calendar" to "Only if the sender is
known."
- Outlook.com, Hotmail, MSN or Live: Settings, Copilot, "Turn on
Copilot." It only appears with some Microsoft 365 plans.
- Yahoo: More options, Settings, AI features, "Message summaries."
- AOL: no AI summaries found as of October 2026. Skip, and check
again each month.
- Apple Mail: on iPhone, Settings, Apps, Mail, "Summarize Message
Previews." On a Mac, Mail, Settings, Viewing. Other Mail AI
features follow the main Apple Intelligence switch.
- A work or school email: don't change it. Ask the IT team.
If my email has no AI features, skip this.
9. The AI built into my computers, phones and browsers, from my list
in task 6. Start with the one or two I use most. For each, help
me turn off the features I don't use, and keep the rest on the
later list.
10. Check what's stored, and help me delete what I don't need: old
chats, uploaded files, shared links, and copies on my own
computer, like cleaned-up text files and downloads.
11. Check automatic web search. Explain that the AI may send words
from my chat to a search company. Show me how to turn it off for
private tasks, and how to search on purpose when I need fresh
information.
12. Check connections (also called connectors or apps). Explain the
rule: start with no keys, give AI only the keys a task needs, and
take them back when it's done. Help me remove any I don't use.
Don't add new ones.
13. Help me find the Stop button, and explain why closing the window
doesn't always stop the AI.
PROTECT IT: Share less, check more.
14. Teach me the person-in-the-middle habit with a made-up example:
copy, paste into a plain-text app, remove private details,
review, then paste into the chat.
15. Show me how to ask a good question and check the response with a
second AI or the real source.
16. Teach me the general rule: one task, one chat. Tell me the
warning signs that a chat has run too long, and show me how to
ask for a handoff summary so I can continue in a new chat.
MONITOR IT: Check in and clean up.
17. Show me what to look for each month: new sign-ins and devices,
apps with access, settings that updates turned back on, and new AI
features in my email, even ones I never turned on.
18. Give me a short monthly checklist I can save.
At the end, give me a summary organized by First, Own IT, Secure IT,
Protect IT and Monitor IT, with my Own IT list and the choice I made
in task 8. List anything I skipped, couldn't find or put on the later
list as still open, not done. Leave out private details. Remind me
that next month I start again at Own IT, and that I can delete this
chat once I've saved the summary.After the conversation
Save the useful result outside AI. Check what the service keeps, remove copies you no longer need, and review any remaining permissions. Deleting a chat may leave separate memories, files, or other retained copies.
The author develops commercial security tools in this area. These resources are tool-neutral and recommend no product. Product names, when used, are examples rather than endorsements. Own IT, Secure IT, and Protect IT draw on the 2019 Cybersecurity Awareness Month theme; Monitor IT extends the cycle into a repeatable personal habit. General educational information, not a scan, compliance assessment, or guarantee of safety. CC BY 4.0.