At a glance
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.”
How it works
Toggle PII Redaction on for your workspace or project.
When turned on, any detected PII information will be replaced:
With
hashsubstitution:Hi, my name is ####!
With
entity_namesubstitution:Hi, my name is [PERSON_NAME]!
You can also create redacted audio files to replace sensitive information with a beeping sound.
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 ...
PII policies covered
Policy name | Description | Example |
| Customer account or membership identification number |
|
| Banking information, including account and routing numbers |
|
| Blood type | O-, AB positive |
| Credit card verification code | CVV: 080 |
| Expiration date of a credit card |
|
| Credit card number |
|
| Specific calendar date | December 18 |
| Date of birth | Date of Birth: March 7, 1961 |
| Driver’s license number | DL# 356933-540 |
| Medications, vitamins, or supplements | Advil, Acetaminophen, Panadol |
| Email address | |
| Name of an event or holiday | Olympics, Yom Kippur |
| Terms indicating gender identity or sexual orientation, including slang terms | female, bisexual, trans |
| Healthcare numbers and health plan beneficiary numbers | Policy No.: 5584-486-674-YM |
| Bodily injury | I broke my arm, I have a sprained wrist |
| Internet IP address, including IPv4 and IPv6 formats | 192.168.0.1 |
| Name of a natural language | Spanish, French |
| Any Location reference including mailing address, postal code, city, state, province, country, or coordinates. | Lake Victoria, 145 Windsor St., 90210 |
| Name of a medical condition, disease, syndrome, deficit, or disorder | chronic fatigue syndrome, arrhythmia, depression |
| Medical process, including treatments, procedures, and tests | heart surgery, CT scan |
| Name and/or amount of currency | 15 pesos, $94.50 |
| Terms indicating nationality, ethnicity, or race | American, Asian, Caucasian |
| Numerical PII (including alphanumeric strings) that doesn’t fall under other categories |
|
| Job title or profession | professor, actors, engineer, CPA |
| Name of an organization | CNN, McDonalds, University of Alaska, Northwest General Hospital |
| Passport numbers, issued by any country | PA4568332, NU3C6L86S12 |
| Account passwords, PINs, access keys, or verification answers | 27%alfalfa, temp1234, My mother’s maiden name is Smith |
| Number associated with an age | 27, 75 |
| Name of a person | Bob, Doug Jones, Dr. Kay Martinez, MD |
| Telephone or fax number |
|
| Terms referring to a political party, movement, or ideology | Republican, Liberal |
| Terms indicating religious affiliation | Hindu, Catholic |
| Internet addresses | ww.nextapp.co |
| Social Security Number or equivalent |
|
| Usernames, login names, or handles | @NEXTAI |
| 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.
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: 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.