With AI tools becoming more powerful and accessible, it's tempting to paste your employment contract into ChatGPT or Claude and ask, "Is this clause okay?" But before you upload that confidential PDF, it's worth asking: is this even allowed?

The Legal Grey Area

Most employment contracts include a confidentiality clause or are marked "private and confidential." That means you're generally not allowed to share the contents with unauthorized third parties.

Uploading your contract to a public AI tool could fall into that category, especially if the tool’s privacy policy doesn’t guarantee that:

• Your data will be kept confidential

• It won’t be used for training

• It won’t be accessible to third parties or human reviewers

So while you might be using the tool for personal analysis, you’re still technically sharing the document with a third party, which might violate the terms of your agreement.

What Do the Laws Say?

In the UK, the common law duty of confidentiality prohibits disclosing sensitive information without legal justification.

Then there's UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, which regulate how personal information is handled. While these laws mostly cover personal data, they overlap with confidentiality when your contract includes personally identifiable or sensitive business information.

In short: your contract may be protected both by contract law and privacy law.

General AI Tools vs Trusted Agents

General-purpose AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity are powerful, but they weren’t built specifically for reviewing legal documents. While they may claim not to store your data long term or use it for training (especially if you opt out), they’re still not legally defined as trusted agents acting on your behalf.

Purpose-Built Alternatives Like Ookulli

This is where tools like Ookulli come in. Unlike general-purpose AI tools, Ookulli is purpose-built for reviewing contracts:

• Designed specifically to process legal documents like employment contracts

• Clear guarantees: your data won’t be used for training, shared, or stored beyond your session

• Acts more like a trusted agent: built to assist you while respecting legal boundaries

With Ookulli, you get:

• A private, secure review process

• Highlighted key points and obligations

• Risk flags, non-standard clauses, and plain-English summaries

• Jurisdiction-specific insights powered by legal experts

Conclusion

Yes, you can use general AI tools to get a quick take on your contract — but legally, it’s a grey area and potentially risky.

If you're dealing with something important like your employment terms, use a tool that’s actually built for the job. Tools like Ookulli offer a safer, smarter, and more compliant way to get the clarity you need.