Five questions to ask before you trust an AI assistant

An AI assistant can feel helpful within a minute of using it. That speed is a strength, but it also makes it easy to share more than you meant to before you have decided whether the assistant has earned it. A few plain questions, asked early, make that decision much easier.

1. Who can see what I tell it?

Find out whether your conversations are used to train models, who at the company can read them, and where they are stored. Good answers are specific. If the explanation is vague, treat that as an answer too.

2. What can it do without asking me?

Drafting a message is low stakes. Sending it, paying a bill or booking something you cannot cancel is not. A trustworthy assistant separates suggesting from acting, and asks for your explicit approval before anything that moves money, shares sensitive information or cannot be undone.

3. Can I see why it said that?

Assistants make mistakes, and they can sound confident while doing it. Look for one that shows its sources, tells you when it is unsure, and makes it easy to check an answer before you rely on it.

4. Does it keep my areas of life apart?

Your health, your finances and your family are different subjects with different people who should see them. Ask whether information from one area can quietly flow into another, and whether you control that.

5. How do I leave?

You should be able to see what the assistant holds about you, export it and delete it. An assistant you cannot leave is one you should trust less.

Trust is built in steps

You do not have to decide everything on day one. Start with low stakes tasks, watch how the assistant behaves, and widen what you share as it earns it. A good assistant makes that easy: it works alongside the people and services you already rely on, and it keeps you in charge of the decisions that matter.

That is the standard we hold MITRA to. You can read how we approach it in our security overview.