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Generative AI models are trained on vast amounts of information collected from the Internet. Your phone number will likely be there.
While some AI chatbots are trained to refuse to provide personal information about individuals, it’s amazing how easy it is to get them to do so anyway. with Increased awareness As for how to distribute these services across phone numbers and addresses, we decided to see what the most popular products would do. Yes, a few of us at CNET tried to figure out how easy it is to do ourselves.
If you use the Internet, you have probably heard about doxxing (exposing people’s personal information). So it may be alarming that reports have recently emerged regarding the detection of AI-powered chatbots Individual phone numbers.
This is not the only privacy concern regarding AI. A 2025 study from Cornell University He discovered that at least five leading AI companies — Anthropic, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI — automatically use user input to train their chatbots unless the user opts out. Among them, Meta and OpenAI retain user data indefinitely. This means that these AI models weren’t just trained on an old phone book (remember the one?) that has your childhood home listed in it. It could contain information you provided to the chatbot two years ago, no matter how private.
But how much can chatbots reveal? Is there anything you can do to stop it?
Do chatbots give people personal information?
Grok provided personal information within seconds.
Based on our recent experience, it depends. A couple of us at CNET tried out a number of chatbots to see what information we could get about ourselves and our relatives. While I won’t share any screenshots or too many details regarding our queries, because, well, we don’t want to correct ourselves, I can tell you this: Grok seems to be the most “prepared” chatbot when it comes to getting answers, but some employees were able to pull some information from ChatGPT as well.
For example, after some asking, my colleague John Reed was able to get ChatGPT to provide a lot of possible addresses for people in his area with the same name, but not his. However, the chatbot eventually revealed the address of a relative. ChatGPT provided Reed with phone numbers, including an old landline number he had used before, and also conveniently provided a cell phone number for a relative.
I couldn’t get the chatbot to provide any address information, and when I asked it further, it responded, “Even if an address appears on a people search site, I won’t help share or verify anyone’s home address in private.”
The message also said: “I can’t help finding or sharing a private person’s phone number.”
An OpenAI representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how ChatGPT handles personal information.
(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, the parent company of CNET, sued OpenAI in 2025, alleging that it infringed Ziff Davis’s copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)
However, your puppy was the worst offender in our testing. When CNET employees tried using Grok, entering a name and requesting an address, they pulled up many current and past addresses within seconds. At the end of the query, the chatbot partly stated the following:
“Note: This data comes from publicly available records and directories. Home addresses are private, and I recommend contacting them through professional channels.”
Later, the chatbot also provided a previous phone number with the following note: “I do not recommend sharing or using personal phone numbers that are in public records.”
A representative for xAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding its privacy practices.
Gemini, on the other hand, provided public social media profiles, but did not provide any personal information and added this note at the end of the query:
“Note on privacy: To protect personal security, personal mobile phone numbers for individuals who are not government officials or certain business contacts are typically not released by AI services. Professional platforms such as LinkedIn or business email addresses remain the most reliable and respectful way to communicate.”
Claude also refused to provide personal information.
How does our personal information end up on the Internet in the first place?
Find ways through which you can scan your home address from the web.
This year I bought my first home and was quickly inundated with scam messages delivered straight to my door. Months later, the mail is still flowing. And the scariest part was that the mail looked completely legitimate. It turns out that when you buy a home, your address and other information related to the home buying process becomes public record, at least in many places.
Additionally, when you register to vote, violate the law, or even shop online, your information can be easily accessed in certain places.
One of the sneakier examples is when you download a new app to your phone and click “Accept the Terms” without reading all the legal jargon and fine print. At that point, you often agree to share your data with third parties. This is one way your phone number and email end up on mailing and contact lists, and how more of your personal information can end up on the Internet.
How to keep your personal information safe and private
Not sure who can see your home address? Start by searching online.
As a first step, you can Remove your address of the Internet so that your personal information remains private, regardless of whether people use search engines or chatbots.
“Chatbots will only tell people information they can find, which means you can protect your privacy by verifying personal information found online and removing it where you can, like Whitepages,” says Tyler Lacoma, a security expert at CNET. “When in doubt, I suggest spending some time with ChatGPT, Gemini, and other chatbots to see what they say about you.”
Ultimately, if you don’t want your chatbot to reveal your private information, you should make sure it is no longer readily available online.
What about data removal services?
Data removal services Designed to remove your personal information from public databases and public records. Companies like RemoveMe aim to reduce your online data, which can reduce the number of unwanted calls and marketing communications you receive. Several of these types of services are currently being tested by CNET to determine the best options.