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Ainomos checks text for personal data, such as names, email addresses, phone numbers and bank account numbers. The app also calls this a PII check (PII: personally identifiable information). What happens on a match depends on where the text is used and on the room’s data class. In rooms meant for internal content with a low protection need, C1 by default, Ainomos keeps personal data out. It withholds answers that contain personal data and masks it in imported documents. In rooms classified for personal data, it lets the data through and records what it saw. The rule behind this is the guardrail DAT-03, “No personal data in rooms with low protection needs”.

When Ainomos checks

Your question itself is not checked for personal data. It is checked for credentials: a question that contains a password, an API key or a token is blocked and not processed, and no exception is possible. C1 is the default for the whole installation. Whoever runs your installation can extend it to other classes. It is not a setting in the app.

What counts as personal data

Platform admins choose the kinds of personal data Ainomos looks for. These are on by default:
  • Person names
  • Email addresses
  • Phone numbers
  • International bank account numbers (IBAN)
These can be switched on:
  • Credit card number
  • Swiss social security number (AHV)
A first and last name together counts as a name. A single word counts only when a cue stands shortly before it, such as a title (“Dr.”, “Frau”) or a label (“Contact:”). Colour words that are also surnames, and lists of things, do not count without such a cue.

When an answer is withheld

In a C1 room, an answer with personal data does not reach you. Instead you see a card titled “Blocked by DAT-03”. It shows:
  • the rule’s title and what it requires, and that the answer to your question was withheld;
  • Detected in the answer, with the kinds found, such as “Person reference” or “Email address”. The withheld text itself is not shown;
  • a suggested next step: rephrase the question without personal details, or ask the room owners which context is allowed;
  • the Policy owner, View rule and Show evidence.

Request an exception

If the room’s work really needs this data for a limited time, you can ask for an exception. For a one-off question, rephrase it instead. Who can do this: members of the room. An owner of the rule’s room decides.
1

Open the request

On the card, choose Request exception (time-limited).
2

Explain and limit it

Write the Justification and choose a Time limit in days.
3

Send it

Choose Submit request. The policy owner decides and sets the final end date.
Once the exception is approved, answers in that room with personal data are delivered until it ends. See Exceptions.

When the check is unavailable

If the personal-data check cannot be reached, Ainomos does not guess. In C1 rooms it withholds the answer as a precaution, and the card says plainly that the check was unreachable and that no personal data was detected. No exception is offered, because nothing was found. Files imported into C1 rooms fail for the same reason, and nothing from them is stored. Other rooms work as usual. System status shows the outage. See System status.

Masked text in imported documents

In a C1 room, each piece of personal data in an imported file is replaced by a marker that names its kind, for example [PII:EMAIL_ADDRESS]. Masking happens before any model reads the text and before anything is stored. The import result notes “Personal data found and masked”, with the kinds. Ainomos keeps no original of such a file, so the masked data cannot be recovered from Ainomos. If a room needs the personal data, import the file into a C2 or C3 room instead.

Privacy settings

The Privacy settings page decides what counts as a match for the whole organisation. It does not decide what happens on a match: that follows from the room’s data class. Who can do this: platform admins. Open Settings, then Privacy settings (under AI & data).

Test before you save

Under Test detection, enter a sample in Test text and choose Check text. The test uses the values currently entered, even before you save them. Each match shows the text found, its technical type and its score. The test text is not stored and creates no evidence record.

What these settings do not change

  • Which data classes withhold personal data. This is set for the installation.
  • Whether the rule DAT-03 is in force. If DAT-03 is retired under Rules, Ainomos still checks answers and records what it found, but withholds no answer. Imports into C1 rooms still mask personal data. See Rules.