LLMs and Data: Personal, Not Private — Kelford Labs Daily

Using AI without blending in.

LLMs and Data: Personal, Not Private — Kelford Labs Daily
“I think the danger is thinking, okay, this thing can produce infinite copy almost instantaneously. Therefore, I should be doing that! When I think the real answer is like, no, no, no, everyone else is going to be doing that. Therefore, you’ve got to do something else.”

— Joel Kelly, All Hands on Tech

What data or information do you have access to that is unique to you and you alone, but which isn't private or confidential?

Identifying that is one of the best ways to get the most out of AI.

Here’s what I mean:

If you’re using AI tools like ChatGPT, but you aren’t providing them with anything unique to you, you’re not going to get a unique output.

Sure, there’ll be a bit of perplexity, but, generally, you’re going to get some pretty same-y stuff. And that’s not helpful for marketing, which is all about standing out and being different.

At the same time, it’s risky to provide LLMs with data that’s private or confidential. What if it leaks? What if it gets trained on? Who’ll be angry if what you put into the LLM appears in someone else’s output?

Now, opinions differ about how paranoid one should be about providing confidential info to AI tools, and I’m more paranoid about it (about everything, honestly) than most. Your mileage, as they say, may vary.

But in any case, there’s a way to get more out of LLMs without giving them private data:

You give them unique data you want to spread. And you use the LLM to help you spread it.

For example, last week I was the guest on the All Hands on Tech podcast. I provided the video to an AI transcription tool and created a full transcript of the episode. That’s nice to have, and might be useful for SEO and social content.

But more than that, I uploaded the transcript to a Claude Project and now I can ask Claude questions about what I said on the podcast.

Things like, “What were my most confusing statements I should clarify in a blog post?” or “What were some of my pithiest and most captivating comments?” or “What’s the funniest thing I said I should turn into a social post?”

Now, one podcast appearance can turn into countless new forms of content—which I’ll personally write—aided by an LLM.

So, here’s the question:

If you want to use LLMs and AI tools for your marketing, what can you provide it that is unique but not confidential?

Do you have blog posts it could review and provide feedback on? Do you have transcripts it could ingest and turn into new ideas? Do you have marketing materials like sales sheets, presentations, or videos it could learn from and inspire you to improve upon or repurpose?

Oh, and according to Claude, one of the best comments I made on the podcast was, “Marketing is deciding, how can I stand out? How can I be the most noticeably credible thing in a sea of sameness?”

And providing LLMs with data that’s personal to you, but not private, is one way to stand out in the sea of sameness.


Kelford Inc. shows you the way to always knowing what to say. Finely crafted marketing messages for hands-on entrepreneurs.