The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has warned organisations and their staff against uploading confidential documents, classified government information and personal data to public artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, cautioning that such practices could expose sensitive information and attract legal consequences.
The warning was contained in an advisory issued by the agency’s Computer Emergency Readiness and Response Team, CERRT.NG, with reference number NITDA-0926-003 and titled Advisory on the Safe Use of AI LLMs.
The advisory identified the increasing use of public AI tools, including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Copilot, for drafting, research and other work-related tasks, noting that while these platforms can improve productivity, their use may inadvertently expose personally identifiable information (PII), classified government information and confidential organisational data.
According to the advisory, information entered into public AI platforms may no longer remain under the control of the organisation concerned, as such data could be retained, logged or used to train the AI models operated by service providers.
NITDA warned that where personal information is involved, such exposure could constitute a personal data breach and violate applicable data protection laws, potentially resulting in legal consequences.
It further cautioned that disclosing classified, official-use or confidential information to external AI providers could compromise national security and undermine public trust, while exposing both organisations and the staff members involved to disciplinary or legal action.
To prevent such risks, the agency urged organisations to prohibit the entry of confidential, classified, official-use and personal data into public AI platforms and ensure that only organisation-approved AI tools are used for official assignments.
It also advised users to remove, anonymise or pseudonymise personally identifiable information and other sensitive details before using AI tools.
The advisory further stressed the importance of reviewing the privacy policies and data-handling terms of AI platforms before use, warning against uploading internal documents without specific authorisation.
NITDA also called on staff to comply with their organisations’ AI usage, information security and data protection policies, emphasising the need for responsible technology adoption.
The advisory highlighted the importance of balancing the productivity benefits of artificial intelligence with the need to safeguard personal information, protect government records and preserve organisational confidentiality as AI tools become increasingly integrated into everyday professional activities.
