How do I prevent confidential documents from entering public AI models?

Preventing confidential documents from entering public artificial intelligence (AI) models starts with controlling how employees access AI, where sensitive information is processed and whether documents need to leave approved systems at all.

For M&A teams, the stakes are particularly high. Deal materials can contain financial information, contracts, intellectual property, personal information, customer data and confidential strategic plans. Allowing users to copy, upload or otherwise transfer this information into unapproved AI applications can create unnecessary data exposure and weaken established information governance.

Organizations should therefore treat AI access as part of their broader security architecture rather than as a standalone productivity decision.

Establish clear controls for AI use

The first step is defining which AI tools employees are permitted to use with confidential information.

Organizations should establish policies identifying approved applications, prohibited data types and acceptable AI workflows. Employees should know that confidential transaction documents should not be copied into consumer or public AI services unless those services have been explicitly approved for that purpose.

Technical controls should reinforce these policies. Access management, data loss prevention, document permissions and monitoring can help organizations reduce unauthorized movement of information.

Deal teams should also understand what happens after information reaches an AI application. Important questions include whether prompts or uploaded files are retained, whether customer information can be used for model training and which third parties may process the data. Understanding the limits of general-purpose AI tools can help organizations identify where additional controls may be necessary.

Bring AI to the data instead of exporting documents

One of the most effective ways to reduce AI-related exposure is to change the workflow itself.

Instead of downloading confidential documents from a virtual data room (VDR) and uploading them into another application, organizations can use architectures that allow approved AI tools to interact with information where it already resides.

This approach helps preserve the existing chain of control. The original documents remain within the governed deal environment while AI receives only the information that an authorized user is permitted to access.

Permission-aware AI is particularly important. An AI application should not be able to retrieve information from documents or folders that the user cannot access directly. Organizations should also maintain audit trails showing how AI applications interact with deal information. These principles underpin secure AI connectivity for dealmaking.

Build secure AI into the deal environment

Technology can provide another layer of protection by making secure AI part of the transaction platform itself.

SS&C Intralinks DealCentre AI™ integrates AI capabilities with the controlled environment used to prepare, market, diligence and manage transactions.

Its proprietary Link AI engine can summarize documents, extract information, identify sensitive content and support conversational Q&A. Ask Link applies existing permissions when answering questions, limiting responses to information the user is authorized to view.

DealCentre Connect extends this approach to compatible external AI applications through secure connectivity. Rather than requiring users to download and re-upload confidential documents, the architecture is designed to bring AI to deal information while maintaining existing permissions, governance and auditability. Intralinks states that DealCentre MCP does not permit deal data to be used to train external or third-party models.

Preventing confidential information from entering public AI models ultimately requires more than telling employees to be careful. Organizations need policies, technical controls and AI architectures that minimize unnecessary data movement while still giving deal teams access to the productivity benefits of AI.