AI and the Swiss Data Protection Act: what you can paste where
Archive · Issue of 14 August 2026
By the end of this, you’ll know which AI tools your team uses, which accounts are safe for which data, and you’ll have a one-page rule everyone can follow without calling you.
The Swiss Data Protection Act (revFADP, or nDSG) has been in force since 1 September 2023. It doesn’t mention ChatGPT, but it doesn’t need to. The Federal Data Protection Commissioner (FDPIC) says the law is technology-neutral and applies directly to AI-supported data processing (FDPIC). When a team member pastes a customer’s details into an AI tool, your business is processing that personal data, and you’re responsible for it.
What you need
- Tools: a spreadsheet, and admin access (or the login details) for the AI tools your business pays for.
- Cost: CHF 0 for the check itself. Moving staff from free to business accounts costs money, covered in step 6.
- Time: about 90 minutes for steps 1 to 5, spread over a week while you wait for answers from staff. Another 30 minutes to brief the team.
- Skill level: no technical skills needed.
- Also useful: this issue’s template, the data traffic-light cheat sheet.
Steps
1. Ask your team what they use (15 minutes, plus a few days for answers)
Send everyone this message. Promise that nobody gets into trouble for honest answers, or you’ll get a list of nothing.
Quick question, no wrong answers: which AI tools do you use for work, even occasionally? For each one, tell me (1) the name, (2) whether you use a free/personal account or a company account, and (3) what kind of tasks you use it for. Reply by [day].
You should get back a list that includes tools you didn’t know about. That’s normal and the point of asking.
The rest of this guide is for members
You’ve seen the first step. Members get the full guide. Each week members get a guide, a tool review, a feature deep dive, a template and two ready-made skills for Claude and ChatGPT.
- Steps 2 to 8
- Copy-paste box: anonymise before you paste
- What can go wrong
- Keep it legal
- What it’s worth
Memberships open later in October. Sign up for the free newsletter and we’ll tell you when.
Want just this month? Buy the August 2026 Edition (every guide, review, deep dive, template and skill of the month) for CHF 20 and keep it. New members get every earlier month for CHF 20 with the catch-up deal.
Already a member? Sign in to keep reading.
Every month you pay for is yours to keep, including after you cancel.
Not ready to pay? Get the free newsletter.
Every Friday: three AI stories that matter for Swiss businesses, and what to do about them. Free, in English, German, French or Italian.