Custom GPTs Security Risks: What Every Business Owner Needs to Know

The two biggest security risks with custom GPTs are data exposure and model leakage. Data exposure happens when your private company information, uploaded into a custom GPT, is used to train the underlying model or is otherwise compromised. Model leakage is when a bad actor extracts the specific instructions and proprietary data you used to build your custom GPT, effectively stealing your intellectual property.

You’re trying to get ahead. You see the power of AI, so you build a custom GPT to analyze sales data or draft customer support replies.

But now you have a new job you didn't ask for: part-time security auditor.

You’re constantly wondering if the customer list you just uploaded is now part of OpenAI’s next training run. Or if a clever employee can trick your custom GPT into spitting out the secret-sauce instructions you spent a week perfecting.

It’s just another thing to manage. Another workflow to fix on a Friday. You wanted to automate work, not create more of it.

The Real Cost of "Free" AI Tools

When you use a public-facing tool like a custom GPT for real business operations, you’re accepting a ton of risk without any real control.

Your Data Isn't Yours: You upload a CSV of your top customers. Where does it go? Is it stored securely? Is it deleted? You’re trusting a third-party policy you probably haven’t read.
Your IP is Exposed: The real value of your custom GPT isn't the AI, it's your specific instructions and knowledge files. A simple prompt injection attack can trick the GPT into revealing its entire configuration. Your competitive advantage is now just a copy-paste away from being stolen.
There Are No Guardrails: A custom GPT will do what it’s told. It won’t stop and ask, "Are you sure you want to email this sensitive analysis to the entire company?" There’s no approval step. No human in the loop. Just a black box that could cause a massive headache with one bad command.

You wouldn't give an intern the keys to your CRM on day one. So why would you give an unmanaged AI access to your most sensitive data?

A Coworker, Not Just a Chatbot

This is why we built Sterling CoWorker. It’s not another chatbot you have to babysit. It’s an AI coworker that operates securely inside the Slack you already use.

We treat your data like it’s our own, because it is. Sterling runs on Google's secured cloud. Every input is treated as untrusted, and your secrets are never logged.

Most importantly, nothing happens without your permission.

Anything that changes a system, sends an email, or updates a record stops and asks for your approval first. You get a simple message in Slack with a "Yes" or "No" button. One tap is all it takes. No accidental sends. No data leaks.

For $50 a month, you get a full-time AI coworker and 20,000 tokens. That’s enough to run dozens of weekly sales audits, draft entire email campaigns, or summarize all your customer feedback without ever exposing your data to a public model.

The Old Way (VAs & Interns)	The DIY Way (Disconnected AI Tools)	The Sterling Way
$600 to $1,100 per month	Hidden costs in time and tokens	$50 per month, flat
Your data is on their personal laptop	Your data is in their training model	Your data is in Google's secured cloud
Constant micromanagement	Constant flow-building and fixing	One message, one tap to approve
Weeks to train, gone in months	Hours of setup, breaks at scale	Set up in an afternoon, never quits

Delegate Your First Secure Task in 5 Minutes

You can stop worrying about security risks and start getting work done right now.

1. Add Sterling to Slack. No servers, no IT, no complex setup. 2. Connect your apps. Link Shopify, QuickBooks, Google Analytics, or any of the 3,000+ tools you use. Your credentials are encrypted and secure. 3. Type your request. Open a message and type what you need, just like you would to a person. For example: "Summarize our top 10 selling products from Shopify for the last 30 days and list the total revenue for each." 4. Review the result. Sterling will run the analysis and present the summary directly in Slack. 5. Tap to approve. If the task involved writing a draft or changing a system, you’ll get a prompt to approve it. Nothing happens without your say-so.

That’s it. You just delegated a task securely without copy-pasting data into a risky chatbot.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Is my data used to train AI models?

No. Absolutely not. Your data is your data. It is only used to complete the specific task you requested and is never used for training any models.

2. How does Sterling keep my API keys and passwords safe?

All your credentials and secrets are encrypted at rest and in transit. They are stored securely in Google Cloud's infrastructure and are never logged or exposed in plain text.

3. What happens if I give it a bad command?

Sterling is designed for safety. If a command is ambiguous or could result in a change to one of your connected systems (like your CRM or email platform), it will either ask for clarification or present a plan that requires your explicit one-tap approval before it acts.

4. Can my whole team use our Sterling account?

Yes. Your $50 a month subscription includes unlimited seats for your entire team. There are no per-user charges.

5. How is this different from just using the ChatGPT Plus with its custom GPT builder?

ChatGPT gives you homework. Sterling does the work. A custom GPT is a tool you and your team have to learn, manage, and secure. Sterling is a coworker that joins your team, lives in Slack, and comes with built-in security and approval systems so you can delegate tasks, not manage tools.

6. What if I run out of my 20,000 tokens?

We’ll give you a heads-up in Slack when you reach 80% of your monthly tokens. You can easily top up with 10,000 more tokens for just $25. No surprise bills, ever.

7. Will it do something I didn't approve?

No. Any action that writes data, sends a message, or changes a system will stop and wait for your one-tap approval in Slack. You are always in control.

Get a Coworker You Can Actually Trust

Stop wasting time worrying about the security risks of public AI tools. Get a coworker that handles your sensitive tasks securely, does the work without being managed, and costs less than your worst employee.

Add Sterling to Slack for $50/mo