Data (PII) redaction

PII Redaction in NEXT AI automatically detects and replaces personal data across the system using either hashes (e.g., ####) or entity labels (e.g., [PERSON_NAME]). When enabled, detected PII is substituted in content and metadata; optional audio redaction can insert a “bleep.”

Use PII redaction when your recordings or imported highlights may contain sensitive personal information that should not remain visible in transcripts.

This is especially relevant for user research, customer interviews, support conversations, and other workflows where people may mention names, phone numbers, locations, or other identifying details.

“Personal data” means any information relating to an identified or identifiable person (GDPR). “De-identification/redaction” removes or transforms identifiers to reduce re-identification risk (NIST).

How it works

• Toggle PII Redaction on for your teamspace.
• When turned on, any detected PII information will be replaced:
  • With hash substitution: Hi, my name is ####!
  • With entity_name substitution: Hi, my name is [PERSON_NAME]!

You can also create redacted audio files to replace sensitive information with a beeping sound.

PII redaction is designed to remove or mask personal information before that text continues through the rest of your discovery workflow. This helps teams preserve the meaning of a transcript while reducing direct exposure to the original personal data.

Example output:

Smoke from hundreds of wildfires in Canada is triggering air quality alerts throughout the US. Skylines from Maine to Maryland to Minnesota are gray and smoggy. And in some places, the air quality warnings include the warning to stay inside. We wanted to better understand what's happening here and why, so we called ##### #######, an ######### ######### in the ########## ## ################### ### ########### at ##### ####### ##########. Good morning, #########.Good morning. So what is it about the conditions right now that have caused this round of wildfires to affect so many people so far away? Well, there's a couple of things. The season has been pretty dry already, and then the fact that we're getting hit in the US. Is because there's a couple of weather systems that ...

When to use PII redaction

• When recordings regularly contain names, contact details, or other personal identifiers
• When your team needs privacy controls earlier in the transcription workflow
• When transcripts will be shared broadly across a team or used in downstream analysis
• When your organization has privacy or compliance requirements around customer data

PII policies covered

Policy name	Description	Example
account_number	Customer account or membership identification number	Policy No. 10042992; Member ID: HZ-5235-001
banking_information	Banking information, including account and routing numbers
blood_type	Blood type	O-, AB positive
credit_card_cvv	Credit card verification code	CVV: 080
credit_card_expiration	Expiration date of a credit card
credit_card_number	Credit card number
date	Specific calendar date	December 18
date_of_birth	Date of birth	Date of Birth: March 7, 1961
drivers_license	Driver’s license number	DL# 356933-540
drug	Medications, vitamins, or supplements	Advil, Acetaminophen, Panadol
email_address	Email address	help@nextapp.co
event	Name of an event or holiday	Olympics, Yom Kippur
gender_sexuality	Terms indicating gender identity or sexual orientation, including slang terms	female, bisexual, trans
healthcare_number	Healthcare numbers and health plan beneficiary numbers	Policy No.: 5584-486-674-YM
injury	Bodily injury	I broke my arm, I have a sprained wrist
ip_address	Internet IP address, including IPv4 and IPv6 formats	192.168.0.1
language	Name of a natural language	Spanish, French
location	Any location reference including mailing address, postal code, city, state, province, country, or coordinates	Lake Victoria, 145 Windsor St., 90210
medical_condition	Name of a medical condition, disease, syndrome, deficit, or disorder	chronic fatigue syndrome, arrhythmia, depression
medical_process	Medical process, including treatments, procedures, and tests	heart surgery, CT scan
money_amount	Name and/or amount of currency	15 pesos, $94.50
nationality	Terms indicating nationality, ethnicity, or race	American, Asian, Caucasian
number_sequence	Numerical PII (including alphanumeric strings) that doesn’t fall under other categories
occupation	Job title or profession	professor, actors, engineer, CPA
organization	Name of an organization	CNN, McDonalds, University of Alaska, Northwest General Hospital
passport_number	Passport numbers, issued by any country	PA4568332, NU3C6L86S12
password	Account passwords, PINs, access keys, or verification answers	27%alfalfa, temp1234, My mother’s maiden name is Smith
person_age	Number associated with an age	27, 75
person_name	Name of a person	Bob, Doug Jones, Dr. Kay Martinez, MD
phone_number	Telephone or fax number
political_affiliation	Terms referring to a political party, movement, or ideology	Republican, Liberal
religion	Terms indicating religious affiliation	Hindu, Catholic
url	Internet addresses	ww.nextapp.co
us_social_security_number	Social Security Number or equivalent
username	Usernames, login names, or handles	@NEXTAI
vehicle_id	Vehicle identification numbers (VINs), vehicle serial numbers, and license plate numbers	5FNRL38918B111818, BIF7547

Redaction of audio files

NEXT also supports redaction on audio files to replace sensitive information with a beeping sound - like you hear audio "bleeped out" on TV shows and movies.

Note: Redacted audio creation is not supported for the EU region.

PII redaction and sanitization

PII redaction affects transcript and highlight text. It helps remove sensitive details from the written evidence your team reads and analyzes.

Sanitization addresses a different part of the privacy problem. It removes the related audio or video media files, which is useful when your retention policy requires reducing access to the raw recording itself.

In practice, teams often use both:

• PII redaction to reduce sensitive information in transcript text
• Sanitization to remove the underlying media after a retention period

Availability

PII Redaction is included in all paid plans.

Standards alignment

Redaction supports GDPR’s personal-data handling and data-minimization goals, and follows de-identification guidance principles (NIST). Internally, NEXT AI’s Data Protection Policy requires handling in line with data classification and encryption controls.

FAQ

Q: What’s the difference between “hash” and “entity label” substitution?

Hashing replaces detected text with #### to remove content entirely; entity labels replace it with a type tag such as [EMAIL_ADDRESS] or [PERSON_NAME] to preserve context while hiding values.

Q: Where does redaction apply in NEXT AI?

The PII Redaction model is designed to minimize personal data across the system (content and associated fields) once enabled.

Q: What PII data does NEXT redact?

NEXT AI models redact a comprehensive set of entities: account_number, banking_information, blood_type, credit_card_cvv, credit_card_expiration, credit_card_number, date, date_of_birth, drivers_license, drug, email_address, event, gender_sexuality, healthcare_number, injury, ip_address, language, location, medical_condition, medical_process, money_amount, nationality, number_sequence, occupation, organization, passport_number, password, person_age, person_name, phone_number, political_affiliation, religion, url, us_social_security_number, username, and vehicle_id.

Q: Does NEXT AI PII redaction go beyond keyword matching?

Yes. NEXT AI uses context-aware models that look at the meaning and phrasing of text—not just lists or regex. It can redact PII when the context implies an identifier even without explicit keywords.

Example: “Is John still out of the office sick?” → “Is [PERSON_NAME] still out of the office [MEDICAL_CONDITION]?” (or with hashes: “Is #### still out of the office ####?”)

It also catches indirect patterns, e.g.

• “Our CFO turns 60 next week.” → [OCCUPATION], [PERSON_AGE]
• “Email me at jane at acme dot com.” → [EMAIL_ADDRESS]

Q: Does NEXT AI support audio redaction (“bleep”)?

Yes—NEXT can generate redacted audio that bleeps sensitive segments. EU region does not support this audio-creation feature.

Q: Does PII redaction remove audio and video content too?

No. PII redaction is about transcript and highlight text. Use sanitization when you need to remove the underlying recording media.

Q: Why would I use PII redaction instead of only sanitization?

Sanitization removes media files later, but it does not solve the problem of sensitive information appearing in transcript text before that point. PII redaction helps reduce that exposure earlier.

Q: Is this the same as anonymization?

Redaction/de-identification removes or transforms identifiers to reduce re-identification risk, but anonymization has stricter expectations. See NISTIR 8053 for de-identification concepts.

Q: How does this relate to GDPR?

GDPR defines personal data broadly; redaction helps implement data-minimization and privacy-by-design practices by limiting exposure of identifiers.

Q: Is redaction tied to NEXT AI’s security policies?

Yes. NEXT’s Data Protection Policy requires protecting data per classification and encryption standards; redaction complements these controls.