Speak to an assistant, safely.

Spoken words go in as fast as they come. Typed words pass under your eyes first. That small difference is why a few habits matter when you talk to an artificial intelligence assistant.

The short answer. Do not say a card, account or identity number aloud. Say “the customer” instead of a name. Look at the screen before you send. Find out whether the recording is kept, and turn that off if you would rather it was not. Speak where nobody else can hear.

Last reviewed 9 October 2026. The company statements below were read on that date, and settings change, so check the screen on your own phone.

Why speaking changes the risk

A gear makes a bicycle faster, and it also makes a fall faster, which is why people who cycle fast wear a helmet. Voice is a gear for an assistant. You can say in ten seconds what takes two minutes to type, and the assistant answers at once.

Three things follow from that. You say a name, a number or an address before you have decided whether it belongs in the question. There is no pause to read the question back before it is sent. And your voice may be saved as a recording, as well as the words.

Five habits, like a helmet and gloves

1. Leave numbers out. Do not say a card number, a bank account number, an identity number, a password or a code sent to your phone. If the answer needs the number, type a made-up one in its place.
2. Say “the customer”, not the name. Use a role or a label, such as “my neighbour” or “the patient in bed four”, so the real name is never in the recording. Hide Names from artificial intelligence does this swap on your own device when the text already exists.
3. Read the screen before you send. Most assistants show what they heard. Read it, fix it, and only then let it go.
4. Know whether the recording is kept. The next section shows what three companies say. If you would rather it was not kept, switch it off once and it stays off.
5. Choose where you speak. A shop, a train or an open office means other people hear what the assistant hears. Use a headset or move somewhere private for anything personal.

What three assistants say they do with a recording

These summaries come from each company’s own help pages, and most of them describe dictation (the microphone button) and not every kind of voice conversation. Where a page does not say, this guide says so.

ChatGPT, from OpenAI

OpenAI says dictation audio is kept for as long as the chat stays in your history. Deleting the chat deletes the audio too, usually within 30 days, with exceptions for security or legal reasons. If you have chosen to share audio to improve the models, it may be used for training. In the data controls you can switch off “Include your audio recordings” or “Improve the model for everyone”, and the second one stops audio sharing altogether, voice chat included.

Gemini, from Google

Google says Gemini Live audio, the written transcript and anything you shared on screen are saved in your Gemini Apps Activity while Keep Activity is on, and that setting is on by default for adults. Activity older than 18 months is deleted automatically unless you choose 3 months, 36 months or no automatic deletion. A separate setting lets Google use audio to improve its services, and it is off by default. If you turn Keep Activity off, conversations are still kept for up to 72 hours to run the service. Deleting a Live conversation from your activity also deletes its audio.

Claude, from Anthropic

For personal plans, Anthropic says it deletes the audio after turning your speech into text, and does not use your voice to train its models. The text becomes part of your chat and follows the chat’s retention rules. If you allow your chats to be used to improve Claude, that text may be used. Anthropic’s page does not give a time for deleting the audio, and it describes dictation on the mobile apps.

Whichever assistant you use, the recording is only part of it. The words you say are stored in the chat like typed words, so the same care applies. What happens to what you paste into an artificial intelligence explains what each company says about the text.

If you have already said something you wish you had not

• Delete the conversation in the assistant, and in the activity page if it has one.
• If you said a card or bank detail, phone your bank on the number printed on the back of the card, and say what was spoken.
• If you said a password, change it now, from a different device if you can.
• What to Do Next gives the first step for each situation, and official help lists where to report in each country.

Sources

• OpenAI, voice dictation FAQ, read 9 October 2026
• Google, manage and delete your Gemini Apps activity, read 9 October 2026
• Anthropic, what personal data is collected when using dictation on the Claude mobile apps, read 9 October 2026

Related guides

• What happens to what you paste into an artificial intelligence
• Ask an artificial intelligence about real people without sharing their details
• All guides