How do I use AI on M&A deal documents without leaking deal information?
Short answer: Treat each deal as its own sealed workspace: code names, only the files you need, a short access list and a clean close-out. Keep deal text off shared apps.
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How do you use AI on deal documents without leaking them?
Give every deal its own sealed workspace, put only the files that deal needs inside it, and let only the named deal team in. Leaks usually come from loose handling, not from the AI itself.
That means a deal is set up before the first document goes in, and shut down after the last one comes out. The rest of this page walks through that life cycle, from the first call to the close-out.
What should go in the tool, and what should stay out?
Put in the text you must work on, and leave out the facts that identify the deal. A summary of a lease schedule needs the lease terms, not the buyer's name or the price.
Decide the rule before the deal starts and write it down, so a tired analyst at midnight does not have to guess.
- In: draft agreements, schedules, diligence questions and your own notes, with names swapped for code names.
- Out: the buyer's true name, the target's true name and the offer price, unless the workspace is private and the team is named.
- Out: passwords, bank details and anything a party told you in confidence under a separate agreement.
- Out: files you hold under a clause that bars sharing them with any outside service.
How do code names help when you use AI?
A code name keeps the deal's identity out of the text the AI reads. If a document is ever seen by someone who should not see it, a code name tells them far less.
Pick one name for the target and one for the buyer, and keep the key in a separate place from the documents. Swap names on the way in and swap them back on the way out. Check the swap by eye, because a name hidden in a footer or a file title is easy to miss.
A code name helps, but it does not make the rest of the text harmless. Revenue, headcount and location can point to one company by themselves.
How is a shared app different from a private setup for a deal?
In a shared app, your text goes to a company you do not control, under terms that can change. In a private setup, the assistant runs in a cloud account you own, so fewer parties hold the deal text.
Business plans of shared apps usually differ from personal plans, so read the current terms of the exact plan you use and ask your counsel what your confidentiality agreements allow. The fuller comparison is in private ChatGPT alternatives compared.
A private setup lowers the number of parties who hold your data. It does not remove the need for strong passwords, access limits, backups and review.
Who on the deal team should get access, and when?
Give access to named people, for one deal, for the length of that deal. Start with the principal and the working team, and add an adviser only when their work begins.
Keep one workspace per deal, so a person on deal A cannot browse deal B. If someone leaves the team, remove their login the same day and change any shared passwords. Keep a short log of who joined and who left, because you will want it at close.
For role-specific setups, see our pages on private AI for private equity, private AI for investment bankers and private AI for CEOs.
What everyday deal jobs can the assistant do?
It can do first-pass reading work that a person then checks. The assistant can be wrong, so you check every output against the source before it goes anywhere.
Teams often use it for plain tasks like these:
To search many files at once, see how a private document search works.
- Summarize a long data room file into a one-page note, with page references you verify.
- List the clauses in a draft that differ from your last draft.
- Turn a stack of diligence answers into a short list of open questions.
- Draft a first version of a status email to the deal team, which a person edits and sends.
How do you close out the workspace when the deal ends?
Close the workspace on a set date: remove every login, export what you must keep, and delete the rest. Decide with your counsel which records you are required to keep and for how long.
Take a final backup of what you keep, and store it where only a named person can open it. Then delete the working copies, the saved chats and any search index built from the deal files. A deal that closed last year should not still sit open in a tool.
What are the limits?
This page is general information, not legal, financial or tax advice. Ask your own counsel, compliance officer or adviser what your confidentiality agreements, your firm's policies and any regulator allow before you put deal text into any tool. More questions are answered in the private AI answers hub.
If you would rather have a person set this up, see our private AI setup service. If you would rather build it yourself, start with the DIY guides.
- The AI can be wrong or miss a clause, so a person checks every output.
- Code names do not hide a company whose figures are distinctive.
- Freeborn does not hold your files and promises no outcomes.
- No setup replaces your own access rules and a clean close-out.
Questions
Can I paste a letter of intent into a shared AI app?
First read the current terms of the exact plan, and check what your confidentiality agreement allows. Your counsel decides, and a code-named copy carries less risk than the real one.Should the seller's side and the buyer's side use the same workspace?
No. Each side keeps its own sealed workspace, because the two sides hold different information and owe different duties.Do I need to tell the other side that I used AI?
That depends on your agreements and your counsel's advice. Ask before the deal starts, not after a question comes up.What happens to chat history after closing?
It stays until you delete it, so put its removal on the close-out list. Ask your counsel whether any of it must be kept.Can the AI draft an offer price for me?
It can draft wording around numbers you give it, but it cannot judge value, and you check every figure. Pricing stays a human decision.Related guides
- How can a CEO use AI on board materials, deals and people decisions without leaking them?
- Private AI for private equity firms
- Private AI for investment banks and M&A advisors
- Is it safe to put a cap table or term sheet into ChatGPT?
- How to Ask a Local AI Questions About Your Private Documents?
- Done-for-you private AI setup service
- Private uncensored AI: the full guide
- All guides to getting your own private AI agent
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