How to Use AI on Files You're Not Allowed to Upload

How to use AI on sensitive files you can't upload. I built an on-device Mac app that strips what a model doesn't need and rebuilds a clean copy, so your private data never leaves your computer. Get Airlock: https://natesnewsletter.substack.com/p/use-ai-sensitive-files?r=1z4sm5&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true My Links 🔗 👉🏻 Newsletter: https://natesnewsletter.substack.com/ 👉🏻 X: https://x.com/natebjones 👉🏻 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nate.b.jones 👉🏻 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nate.b.jones What's really happening when the AI you're told to use meets the files you're told not to upload? The common story is that you just shouldn't paste sensitive data into a chatbot. The real question is what a model actually needs to see, and who has to decide it. In this video, I share the inside scoop on using AI without handing over the sensitive stuff: - Why "don't upload the file" stopped being useful advice - How to separate what a task needs from what a file contains - What Airlock strips out, and what it deliberately leaves alone - Where a clean copy can safely go, and where it cannot The upside is real work moving faster on private material, but a sanitized copy is not authorization, so you still read what leaves before it goes. Chapters: 00:00 The file I would never upload 00:39 Why the warning stops too soon 01:16 Airlock demo and protected terms 02:39 Keep or cut: what the model actually needs 04:03 Rebuild the file instead of redacting it 04:50 Hand the clean copy to a frontier model 05:57 Why this suddenly feels urgent 07:45 What people in my community really do 09:26 Verizon on shadow AI at work 10:09 Security fatigue and better defaults 11:06 Redaction that keeps the work useful 12:44 Begin with the job Listen to this video as a podcast. Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0gkFdjd1wptEKJKLu9LbZ4 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ai-news-strategy-daily-with-nate-b-jones/id1877109372