ChatGPT Can Get You Fired — Privacy Attorney Charlyn Ho Explains the Legal Risk

Is pasting your work documents into ChatGPT putting your job on the line? 😳 In this episode of the Smarter Online Safety Show, I sit down with AI & data privacy attorney Charlyn Ho — a U.S. Navy veteran, former Big Law partner, and founder/CEO of Rikka Law Group — to break down exactly what happens to your data the second you hit "send" on ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or any AI chatbot. Charlyn has spent her career on the other side of the table from the world's biggest tech companies — she's represented Microsoft and Meta and read the fine print the rest of us just scroll past. In this conversation, we get into why free AI tools can quietly turn your confidential company data into a fireable (or sueable) offense, what "if you're not paying, you're the product" really means for your privacy, whether AI chatbots and companion apps are actually safe — or even legal — for kids and teens, and what small business owners need to know to use AI without a legal department. Whether you're an employee using AI at work, a parent worried about AI chatbots and your kids, or a small business owner building your first AI policy — this is your plain-English guide to using AI safely in 2026. 💡 WHAT YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE: ✔️ Why pasting company data into free ChatGPT could get you fired or sued for breach of confidentiality ✔️ The real legal difference between free and paid AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity) ✔️ What "you are the product" actually means for your data and privacy ✔️ Whether AI chatbots and companion apps are legal for kids and teens under COPPA ✔️ What FERPA does (and doesn't) protect when schools roll out AI tools ✔️ How smart devices like Alexa and Google Home have been subpoenaed as silent witnesses ✔️ How to build a smart, risk-based AI policy for your small business or team ✔️ Why "dark patterns" make it so hard to actually protect your privacy online ✔️ How Charlyn's firm is building AI compliance agents to make legal guidance more accessible 🔗 RESOURCES & LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Connect with Charlyn Ho & Rikka Law Group: - Website: https://rikkagroup.com  - About Charlyn: https://rikkagroup.com/about/leadership  - Email: [email protected]  - Charlyn on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/charlynho/  - Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Rikka_Group   Legal resources referenced in this episode: - COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) — FTC: https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/privacy-security/childrens-privacy  - FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) — U.S. Dept. of Education: https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/ferpa