106 | AI Ethics and Security with Elizabeth Goede (Part 2)

Are you feeding your AI tools private info you’d never hand to a stranger?

If you’re dropping sensitive data into ChatGPT, Canva, or Notion without blinking, this episode is your wake-up call. In Part 2 of our eye-opening conversation with AI ethics strategist Elizabeth Goede, we delve into the practical aspects of AI use and how to safeguard your business, clients, and future.

This one isn’t about fear. It’s about founder-level responsibility and smart decision-making in a world where the tools are evolving faster than most policies.

Grab your ticket to the AI in Action Conference — March 19–20, 2026 in Grand Rapids, MI. You’ll get two days of hands-on AI application with 12 done-with-you business tools. This isn’t theory. It’s transformation.

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

• Why founders must have an AI policy (yes, even solopreneurs)
• The #1 AI tool Elizabeth would never trust with sensitive data
• How to vet the tools you already use (based on their founders, not just features)
• What "locking down your data" actually looks like
• A surprising leadership insight AI will reveal about your team

Resources & Links:

• AI in Action Conference – Registration
• Follow Elizabeth Goede socials (LinkedIn, Instagram)

Related episode:

• Episode 104 | AI Ethics and Security (Part 1) with Elizabeth Goede

Want to increase revenue and impact? Listen to “She's That Founder” for insights on business strategy and female leadership to scale your business. Each episode offers advice on effective communication, team building, and management. Learn to master routines and systems to boost productivity and prevent burnout. Our delegation tips and business consulting will advance your executive leadership skills and presence.

Transcript

She's That Founder
106 | AI Ethics and Security with Elizabeth Goede (Part 2)

Elizabeth Goede: when you can give these tools access to your computer. that is probably not the first thing that you should do. I always talk about it this way. It's like, just because you can, should you,

Dawn Andrews: Hey, hey, hey. Welcome back to She's That Founder, and if you're jumping straight into part two of this episode, without listening to Part One, stop right now and go back seriously. Part one is where Elizabeth Goede, the AI whisperer, laid the foundation for everything we're about to talk about today. We covered the real risks of using AI tools in your business.

Why a patent attorney using deep seek should terrify you. The difference between learning models and language models and why tools like Chat, GPT, and Claude operate so differently when it comes to your data privacy. If you missed all of that, this episode will make some sense, but that background will really do you good.

So go back and listen to part one and then come back here. For those of you who did listen to part one, welcome back. You're probably thinking, okay, girl, I get it. AI is powerful, but risky, but now what the hell do I do about it? That's exactly what we're covering today. We're getting tactical.

Elizabeth is gonna walk us through how to actually protect your business, what to look for when choosing AI tools, how to create an AI policy, even if you're a solopreneur. And yes, we're doing that lightning round of questions, so let's jump right back in.

Dawn Andrews: Okay. Let's talk about how to protect your business. Elizabeth's my girl, so a lot of this stuff, we've been having conversations behind the scenes, so. it doesn't curdle my blood. But at the same time, there's a lot that I've learned just from listening to you share today, Elizabeth.

And I just don't want people like protect your business. Don't need to panic like everything's okay. So what? What can founders do now? From an individual or a company standpoint, if they're already in these tools, they're in chat, PT or copilot or Canva or Notion, or you know, any of these tools that are foundational to how to, how they run their business, what can they do?

Elizabeth Goede: Yeah. So I would say first and foremost, if it's proprietary private information, it's not public. so your board meetings probably aren't public. So therefore you absolutely want to lock that information down, or at least the components of that information that would be proprietary.

 Think about your finances, think about things that are unique to your IP.

Dawn Andrews: And how would one lock that down? What does that look like?

Elizabeth Goede: Yeah, I mean, I think it looks like when you can give these tools access to your computer. that is probably not the first thing that you should do. It's sort of, I always talk about it this way. It's like, just because you can, should you, so if you keep proprietary information on your machine, I would not give access to any tool.

Just to protect yourself because you also don't wanna hold the liability from one of your clients if some information gets out and it turns out that breach was from you. The second thing is I think that like there are things that we can control. We control where we spend the money and we control what tools we use.

So doing a little bit of research into who are the founders, who are the CEOs of these companies, and  just based on their behaviors. And what exposure that they've had based on security breaches and things like that. Like, okay, these are the tools that I do wanna use or I don't wanna use, what types of privacy and protections do they have? because of the nature of the business that I do and, relationships that I sometimes have with people like the FBI, stay away from China. Any tool that is based in China and there's a very quick way that you can do that. You can actually just. Look up the privacy policy and the terms of conditions and all of that should actually list where the company is based.

You can also do a search online. My recommendation would be that you certainly stay away. Any company that's based in China, because of the way that China as a government behaves, they have the ability to be inside of that. It's not the same thing as in the US where, where the government doesn't just.

Get to be a part of our product. They don't get to just choose to, get whatever information they want out of it. We're very fortunate in that way. It's not that way in the rest of the world.  Many European companies actually have very stringent laws based on data privacy protection.

India actually has some of the most stringent data protection laws. So when you think about areas in the world where you wanna use it, China, I would list it high risk, Russia, I would list it high risk. but when you look at things like, the Netherlands or the UK they're all, based on GDPR rules, look at who's running the company. Look at the company's background and decide where the right tools are for you to use it. Then when you think about the information that you're using, stay out of putting your employee's personal identifying information in there.

If you wanna write a review, don't use it. Their name. Don't use identifying information. You can use criteria about the job that they've done and things like that, but don't put personal identifying information in there when it's your financials. Certainly if it's just broad rash numbers, where you're not actually saying what it's associated with, then that's safer.

Just strip out the information and then you're gonna sort of have to do the decoder ring back in. or you can do things where you maybe make it widget A, widget B, widget C, or make that. That mapping easier. But I would say like be smart first. And the second thing is if you have a little bit more of an established business or you have very specific types of privacy concerns, then work with somebody who's gonna be able to help you navigate that.

 You know, when I work with my clients, we are not talking to the internet at all.

They literally have their own servers with their own AI models, which sometimes have come from models that are available to everyone, and sometimes are unique to them. they're literally able to do anything and everything they want to because it's only their own

data. It's totally closed.

Dawn Andrews: Yeah.

Elizabeth Goede: So there are obviously varying degrees.

Dawn Andrews: And then what about the human connection part of it? Because if you're running a business, you may have other employees that are using these tools. So how do you guide

founders of businesses to speak with their employees or set up the parameters by which other people use it?

Elizabeth Goede: Yeah, I would say it's employees and, other people that you work with, whether it's your vendors, suppliers, consultants, you should absolutely have an AI policy in place. and the reason for that is it, it can be very simple. It can be very simple that just says you can use these tools and you can put this information in it.

It can be as simple as saying like, if you wanna use it, just come and see someone. Like it doesn't have to be overly verbose. We certainly have a quick app you can run through and get like a seven page that walks you through all the criteria that would walk you through the logic of the things you should put in.

 But yeah. Ignoring it and not having it, I had somebody ask me if they need one? And I said, well, do you truly do everything only alone? Like, do you work with a bookkeeper? Do you have a lawyer? you might think you're alone, but when you really start thinking about other people in your life, there are other people there, and you wanna make sure that when it's your business, you are protecting that asset that you've worked so hard to create, which is like all the pieces and parts that are there.

 So I, I would say at a base level, the grounding line is to have a policy that just is really transparent with like, what's okay and what's not. Okay.

Dawn Andrews: Awesome. So, okay. We've talked today about the world of AI ethics, like what does it mean when people are talking about AI ethics and security? We've talked about, ooh, what could go wrong when you're putting stuff into these AI models? We've talked about ways to protect your business and to engage with it, and Elizabeth has given us a great background on the history of AI up to this point.

And how they came to be and how the companies operate. And you've given us some ideas about how we might choose our tools better. So I have like a few rapid fire questions for you. Are you ready for that?

Elizabeth Goede: I hope so.

Dawn Andrews (2): Hey, levies, I'm jumping in here real quick to ask you if you're tired of being the bottleneck in your business.

If you're editing everything at 10:00 PM because your team can't capture your voice, you need to be at AI in Action. March 19th and 20th, 2026 in Grand Rapids, Michigan,

I'm speaking on voice architecture. How to use AI to scale your leadership presence without losing what makes you you.

You'll walk out with a working custom GPT trained on your voice. Ready to use Monday morning.

Join in person or virtually, but grab that early bird pricing now, girl, because it won't last. The link is in the show notes. If you wanna stop being the bottleneck and start scaling your voice, come join me at AI in action.

March 19th and 20th, 2026 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Dawn Andrews: Okay. Cool. Lightning round. 

What is one AI tool you would never trust with your data?

Elizabeth Goede: Deep seek.

Dawn Andrews: And tell me why.

Elizabeth Goede: Well, It is an open source model, which also allows for information to go in and any information you put in there they own.

Dawn Andrews: What's an AI tool that you use every day and you love?

Elizabeth Goede: Claude. I refer to him as Chip, and he is my work husband.

Dawn Andrews: What is a leadership lesson that AI has taught you?

Elizabeth Goede: I think, a leadership lesson would be, curiosity, how AI can be a good sort of magnifying class to curiosity. So, I know that sounds like a weird leadership lesson, but when I think about the core values that we have, curiosity and a natural thirst for learning and knowledge is really important to us, AI has actually been a really great place to put people on a scale of like, are they willing to learn or not learn? even though it might take longer to figure out how to use artificial intelligence and it might take longer to train it.

Are they willing to sort of put in that work and be able to do it? Or do they just wanna go back and do things the way that they've always done and you know, it's like, can you figure that out from your team long term? Yeah, you can see that. But that has been an absolute catalyst to sort of like, really clearly define where everybody's at on that scale.

Dawn Andrews: For sure you, and you've said regularly in our conversations, like you help businesses slow down to go fast, and that sounds like what you're describing there. Okay.

So, ethical AI isn't about rules. It's about what?

Elizabeth Goede: Well, ethical AI is what is okay and not okay. AI as a humanoid can make you coffee, okay? People would rather spend more money to have a human make it.

 AI can 100% look at a database and probably could actually answer a nine one one call better than a nine one one operator.

 But in the case of an emergency, people don't want that. So when we think about where ethics happen, we are the ones who are determining where the ethical boundaries are within artificial intelligence. and we are the ones establishing that as humans. and what's interesting is how much collectively we. are very clear about where those boundaries are. It's not really gray as much as people think it is. it's very much black and white. I mean, we've spent a lot of time talking about the ethical sides of like, who should own us, right?

Dawn Andrews: Who should have rights to my body or not?

Elizabeth Goede: Yeah, and it becomes interesting when you think about even like parents, right?

Because your parents led into your genetics. And as we get further into the future, I mean, thinking about the fact that in June of 2025, we had a team of surgeons in Florida provide surgery for someone in Africa, 7,000 miles away. Like the world is getting so. on one side is so exciting.

 I mean, think about the fact that we can bring life saving surgeries to like the most remote locations with the biggest experts, right? that is really exciting to think about. But then also think about the fact that cloning, right? We continue to have these discussions. So it's like the ethics are just because we can, should we?

 And I think that's really the best way to think about ethics is just because we can, should we.

Dawn Andrews: I wanna spend our very last little bit of time here talking about AI and action, because you guys all have Elizabeth on again and again and again. the reason, specifically the reason I've called you here today, is to talk about the AI and Action Conference that is coming up in 2026.

Can you share a little bit about it?

Elizabeth Goede: Absolutely. I'd love to. So, AI in Action is happening March 19th and 20th in 2026, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We are going to have 12. Action packed. micro workshops, but the best way that I like to think about it is, you know, you've heard all the theory, you hear all kinds of keynotes say, oh, you could do this.

 And the opportunities here, even a lot of the things we talked about today was a little bit theory because we weren't actually doing the thing. I'm a big believer of AI allows us to do the thing, so we should do the thing. And so if you are at a place where you want to increase and improve the value of your business, we want to be able to use artificial intelligence to remove the crap that we don't wanna do.

Dawn Andrews: Amen.

Elizabeth Goede: Yeah. And so AI in Action is really like all those strategies and tools that allow us to sort of remove those burdens from our life. So it's basically two days of practical application. This is like bringing your computer, you're gonna actually walk away with 12. Implementable, tactics and solutions, directly into your business.   

Dawn Andrews: So good. And I also wanna call out that it's a female focused event now. Boys, you are welcome to come. We are not saying that you can't come. We love you. Please come. But one of the things that I appreciated about you starting this conference, Elizabeth, is just shining a spotlight on women in business, women in tech, women in ai, and giving it more of a space and a voice because these tools predominantly were built by men.

And we need to claim our space. And I'm so thankful that you've created that platform. 

Elizabeth Goede: Well, and Don, you're a speaker. I should also profile that. and Don was a speaker last year, so I'm so excited to be able to welcome her back. and you know, you're exactly right, Don. women aren't given. We have discrimination in tech period. Like just at full stop. We can just put it there. We have bias in the tools because of that, because we haven't really been groomed or put in the position to be in lead engineering roles.

That allows us to really put our mark within them. But the other thing is we're discriminated on when it comes to stage time as well, which is when, you were mentioning about the women. It's like imagine the fact that women we're really, really good at not only, we don't like to waste time, so you know that whatever strategy is out here came from a place of like actually meaning something to us

and we're

Dawn Andrews: was, it born out of pain. is literally solving a painful

Elizabeth Goede: Exactly. And I would say the other thing is that women, especially the women that, we put on our stage, they're really good at distilling it down to make it easy to understand no matter what the level is that you're at. And that was really important to me when I did this because AI really is a leveler.

You know, I spoke at a disability conference, uh, recently and said the awesome thing that's coming is. AI can help us overcome whatever limitations we've had before because it will help us be able to overcome those. Now what it can't do and what it shouldn't do, if we wanna circle back to the ethics thing really quickly, is the fact that, it can't make us an expert in something.

We're not an expert. So the only thing you actually have to bring to the conference is the knowledge of your own business. You have to know what it is that you do, what it is that your business does, and from there we can, we become a master in 48 hours.

Dawn Andrews: Yay. Excellent. Well, for those of you that are excited about this conference, and you should be, I'll have the link in the show notes so. grab the early bird while you can, and if not, grab what you can and get your patootie to Grand Rapids, Michigan in March.

Elizabeth, thank you again for sharing your wisdom and your knowledge. It's such an exciting time for business owners and especially for small business owners that are looking to scale what AI offers is extraordinary. But thank you for being our big sister and having our

back.

Elizabeth Goede: Well, thank you, Dawn for continuing to give me some places to have a platform to be able to talk about it. And I think that your audience will be infinitely, more,Prepared, for, using AI in all the right ways that they could be protected on when policy does come out. So thank you so much for having me here and, I can't wait to see at the AI and Action Conference soon.

 Okay, so let's recap what Elizabeth just gave us across these two episodes. We talked about the real risks of AI from protecting your IP, to understanding why some tools are safer than others. We covered how to choose AI tools strategically, how to lock down your proprietary information and why you absolutely need an AI policy, even if you're a solopreneur.

 And Elizabeth reminded us of the most important question, just because we can, should we. Here's what I want you to do right now. First, audit your current AI usage. What tools are you using? What information are you putting into them? Would you be comfortable with that information on a public website? And if not, it's time to make some [00:17:00] changes.

Second. If you wanna go deeper on this, Elizabeth is hosting AI in action on March 19th and 20th, 2026 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This is a hands-on, bring your computer walk away with 12 implementable tactics kind of conference. It's a get or done on the weekend situation. And I'm speaking there on voice architecture, how to use AI to scale your leadership presence without losing what makes you you.

You'll build a custom GPT trained on your voice, live in the session, ready to use on Monday morning. You can attend in person or virtually, but grab early bird pricing now because it won't last. The link is in the show notes. And third, if you found this conversation valuable, share it with another founder who needs to hear this.

We need more women in business who understand AI ethics and security, not fewer. And tag me on LinkedIn and let me know what your biggest takeaway was.

And finally, Elizabeth Girl, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being my big sister, for being our big sister in this AI security space, for having our backs and making AI feel less overwhelming and more strategic.

You are a gift to everyone listening. This is exactly the kind of conversation that helps you build a business that could run without you full-time because you're making smart, strategic decisions about the tools you use and how you protect what you've built.

Until next time, stay strategic, stay protected, and stay that founder. Keep building. I'll see you next time.