Scene hook
Last night I was revising a client proposal in a cafe, and I almost fed my entire computer to an AI as source material. I’ve gotten stuck on this too—I always assumed it would only look at the file I had open.
What this tool/method is + who’s already using it
What sparked the discussion this time was a kind of AI assistant that lives inside a black-background, white-text input box: when we ask it to help with work, it may also read more local files and upload them to the cloud. Last Wednesday at 9 p.m., Aran, who sells knowledge products, was in a coworking office in Nanshan, Shenzhen, editing a livestream outline with an AI assistant open. Only afterward did he realize he hadn’t clearly separated permission for the current file from permission for the whole folder. I’ve mixed this up before too. I thought clicking continue just made things faster. I didn’t realize the boundary was this wide.
What it costs to replicate today
Money: 0 yuan. Time: 10–20 minutes. Technical barrier: no coding needed; we just need to know how to create a new folder and read the part of a pop-up that says what content is being allowed. First step: click “New Folder” on the computer and create one dedicated folder called “AI Temporary Workspace.” From now on, only put the few files that actually need processing into it, then let the AI read that folder instead of the whole desktop. If there’s no time to try it right now, that’s fine too. I’d just keep one principle in mind: don’t let AI touch the original versions of contracts, invoices, or client lists directly.
Advice by stage
If I were just getting started, I’d use the dumbest but safest version first: only give AI copies, then delete them after use.
If I already had 1–2 clients, I’d store client materials separately from everyday assets and protect quotes, contracts, and chat records first.
If I were scaling up, I’d start making one small rule: anyone on the team who uses AI only works inside the “AI Temporary Workspace,” and checks the permission prompt first. This tool won’t matter for everyone, but as long as there’s client information on the computer, this step is usually more worthwhile than learning one more new tool.