Most people use spreadsheets built by Big Tech, companies whose business model relies upon monetizing your data. Big Tech may even be a current or future competitor. They design their products to give them access to your information(new window). For example, Google has embedded its AI tool, Gemini, into Sheets. While it looks like a helpful data assistant, Google’s own support page(new window) warns you not to share anything confidential with Gemini since it could be read by reviewers or used to improve its AI. Google makes it hard to know exactly how small businesses’ data will be treated, but it defaults personal data into AI training. It has also left the door open to using companies data to train its AI if they give permission. And since most Big Tech companies are based in the US, they’re subject to weak data protection laws, opening the door to warrantless surveillance.

Yuck Google scanning your important files with AI.