Your AI chats aren’t private—here’s what each platform does with your data

AI chatbots have become indispensable business tools, handling everything from customer service inquiries to internal research tasks. However, most users remain unaware of a critical reality: these AI assistants are quietly documenting every conversation, creating detailed records that could expose sensitive business information, personal data, or strategic discussions.

This digital paper trail extends far beyond your local device. Most AI providers store conversations indefinitely on their servers, where they may be reviewed by human employees, used to train future AI models, or potentially exposed through security breaches. For business users handling confidential information, client data, or proprietary strategies, understanding these privacy implications isn’t optional—it’s essential risk management.

The privacy landscape varies dramatically across AI platforms. While some providers treat your conversations as training material by default, others have built privacy protection into their core business model. Some allow human reviewers to read your chats, while others maintain strict no-access policies. Understanding these differences can help you choose the right tool for sensitive work and configure existing tools to better protect your data.

Here’s a comprehensive breakdown of how major AI assistants handle your conversations, what you can do to protect your privacy, and which tools offer the strongest protection for business users.

Understanding AI training and why it matters

Before diving into specific platforms, it’s important to understand what “AI training” means and why most companies want your data for this purpose. When AI providers use your conversations for training, they’re essentially teaching their systems to become more capable by learning from real user interactions. Your business strategy discussion or customer service chat becomes part of the dataset that improves the AI’s responses for all users.

While this process typically anonymizes your data, the definition of “anonymous” varies significantly between companies. Some providers maintain that anonymized data cannot be traced back to individuals, while others acknowledge that combining multiple data sources could potentially re-identify users. For businesses handling sensitive information, even anonymized data sharing represents a potential risk.

Privacy-focused AI assistants

Duck.AI

Duck.AI, developed by DuckDuckGo (the privacy-focused search engine company), takes a fundamentally different approach to AI privacy. The platform doesn’t use your conversations to train AI models, thanks to specific agreements with major AI providers that power its service.

Human review: None. Duck.AI maintains a strict policy against human review of conversations.

AI training: Not applicable. The platform’s core value proposition is avoiding data collection for AI training purposes.

Private conversations: While there’s no dedicated incognito mode, users must manually delete conversations either individually or all at once through the sidebar interface.

Data sharing: The platform doesn’t offer chat sharing functionality, which eliminates the risk of accidentally exposing conversations through shared links.

Advertising: Duck.AI doesn’t use conversation data for targeted advertising, maintaining consistency with DuckDuckGo’s broader privacy philosophy.

Data retention: AI model providers retain anonymized conversation data for up to 30 days, with extensions only for legal or safety requirements.

Proton Lumo

Proton Lumo, created by Proton (the Swiss company behind ProtonMail encrypted email service), represents the most privacy-focused option available. The platform builds on Proton’s reputation for strong privacy protection in the email and VPN markets.

Human review: Proton maintains a strict no-access policy for human reviewers.

AI training: Not applicable. Proton Lumo doesn’t contribute user data to AI training datasets.

Private conversations: The platform offers a dedicated private mode accessible through the glasses icon in the top-right corner.

Data sharing: No sharing functionality is available, eliminating potential privacy risks from shared links.

Advertising: Proton Lumo doesn’t use conversation data for advertising purposes.

Data retention: Proton doesn’t store conversation logs, offering the strongest data protection available among major AI platforms.

Mainstream AI assistants with privacy controls

ChatGPT

OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the platform that sparked mainstream AI adoption, uses conversations for AI training by default but offers comprehensive privacy controls for users who want to opt out.

Human review: OpenAI may review conversations to improve its systems, and the company now automatically scans for threats of imminent physical harm, potentially submitting flagged conversations to human reviewers and law enforcement.

AI training: By default, ChatGPT uses your data to train AI models. Users can disable this by navigating to Settings > Data controls > Improve the model for everyone.

Private conversations: ChatGPT offers “temporary chat” mode, accessible by clicking “Turn on temporary chat” in the top-right corner. These conversations don’t appear in your history and aren’t used for AI training.

Data sharing: Users can generate shareable links for conversations. OpenAI previously allowed search engines to index shared chats but removed this feature.

Advertising: OpenAI’s privacy policy states it doesn’t sell personal data for behavioral advertising, doesn’t process data for targeted ads, and doesn’t use sensitive personal information to infer consumer characteristics.

Data retention: Temporary and deleted chats are stored for up to 30 days, though some may be retained longer for security and legal obligations. All other conversations are stored indefinitely.

Google Gemini

Google’s Gemini AI integrates with the company’s broader ecosystem, using conversation data for AI training by default while offering opt-out controls.

Human review: Google explicitly warns users not to enter “any data you wouldn’t want a reviewer to see.” Once a reviewer accesses your data, Google retains it for up to three years, even if you delete your chat history.

AI training: Gemini uses conversations for AI training by default. Users can disable this by visiting myactivity.google.com/product/gemini, clicking the “Turn off” dropdown, then selecting either “Turn off” or “Turn off and delete activity.”

Private conversations: The platform offers an incognito mode accessible through the chat bubble with dashed lines next to the “New chat” button in the left sidebar.

Data sharing: Users can generate shareable links for conversations.

Advertising: Google states it doesn’t currently use Gemini chats for targeted advertising, but the company’s privacy policy allows for this practice. Google has committed to communicating any changes to this policy.

Data retention: Google stores conversation data indefinitely unless users enable auto-deletion in Gemini Apps Activity settings.

Anthropic Claude

Anthropic’s Claude AI assistant recently changed its privacy approach, beginning to use conversations for AI training as of September 28, 2024, unless users specifically opt out.

Human review: Claude doesn’t allow general human review of conversations, though the company does review conversations flagged for policy violations.

AI training: Starting September 28, 2024, Anthropic uses conversations to train AI models unless users opt out through Settings > Privacy > Help improve Claude.

Private conversations: Claude doesn’t offer a dedicated private mode. Users must manually delete conversations to remove them from their history.

Data sharing: The platform allows users to generate shareable links for conversations.

Advertising: Anthropic doesn’t use conversation data for targeted advertising.

Data retention: Standard conversations are stored for up to two years, while prompts flagged for trust and safety violations are retained for seven years.

Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft’s Copilot integrates AI capabilities across the company’s productivity suite, using conversation data for training while burying privacy controls in settings menus.

Human review: Microsoft’s privacy policy indicates the company uses both automated and manual human processing methods for personal data.

AI training: Copilot uses conversation data for AI training by default. Users can disable this by clicking their profile image, selecting their name, going to Privacy settings, and disabling “Model training on text.”

Private conversations: Microsoft doesn’t offer a dedicated private mode. Users must delete conversations individually or clear their entire history through Microsoft’s account management page.

Data sharing: Users can generate shareable links, but these links cannot be unshared without deleting the entire conversation.

Advertising: Microsoft uses conversation data for targeted advertising and has discussed integrating advertisements directly into AI responses. Users can disable this through their profile image > name > Privacy, then disabling “Personalization and memory.” A separate setting disables personalized ads across all Microsoft services.

Data retention: Microsoft stores conversation data for 18 months unless users manually delete it.

xAI Grok

Elon Musk’s xAI Grok, integrated with X (formerly Twitter), uses conversation data for AI training while offering privacy controls similar to other mainstream platforms.

Human review: Grok’s FAQ acknowledges that a “limited number” of “authorized personnel” may review conversations for quality assurance or safety purposes.

AI training: Grok uses conversation data for AI training by default. Users can disable this by clicking their profile image, going to Settings > Data Controls, then disabling “Improve the Model.”

Private conversations: Grok offers a “Private” mode accessible through a button in the top-right corner. Private conversations don’t appear in history and aren’t used for AI training.

Data sharing: Users can generate shareable links, but these cannot be unshared without deleting the conversation entirely.

Advertising: Grok’s privacy policy states the platform doesn’t sell or share information for targeted advertising purposes.

Data retention: Private chats and deleted conversations are stored for 30 days. All other data is retained indefinitely.

Meta AI

Meta’s AI assistant, integrated across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, follows the company’s established data collection practices, using conversations for both AI training and advertising purposes.

Human review: Meta’s privacy policy confirms the company uses manual review to “understand and enable creation” of AI content.

AI training: Meta uses conversation data for AI training by default. U.S. users can request opt-out through a specific form, while EU and UK users can exercise their right to object under regional privacy laws.

Private conversations: Meta AI doesn’t offer a private conversation mode.

Data sharing: Shared conversation links automatically appear in a public feed and may show up across other Meta applications.

Advertising: Meta’s privacy policy explicitly states the company targets advertisements based on collected information, including AI interactions.

Data retention: Meta stores conversation data indefinitely.

Perplexity

Perplexity, which combines AI responses with web search results, uses conversation data for both AI training and advertising purposes while offering opt-out controls.

Human review: Perplexity’s privacy policy doesn’t mention human review of conversations.

AI training: The platform uses conversation data for AI training by default. Users can disable this through Account > Preferences > AI data retention.

Private conversations: Perplexity offers an “Incognito” mode accessible by clicking the profile icon and selecting the option under the account name.

Data sharing: Users can generate shareable links for conversations.

Advertising: Perplexity shares user information with third-party advertising partners and may collect additional data from external sources like data brokers to improve ad targeting.

Data retention: Conversation data is stored until users delete their accounts entirely.

Practical recommendations for business users

For highly sensitive business discussions: Choose Duck.AI or Proton Lumo, which don’t use conversations for AI training and offer stronger privacy protections by design.

For general business use with privacy controls: ChatGPT and Claude offer the best balance of capability and privacy options, allowing you to disable AI training and use temporary conversation modes.

For integrated productivity workflows: If you’re committed to Microsoft’s ecosystem, configure Copilot’s privacy settings immediately after setup, disabling both AI training and advertising personalization.

For research and information gathering: Perplexity’s search integration makes it valuable for research tasks, but configure incognito mode for sensitive inquiries.

Essential privacy practices across all platforms

Regardless of which AI assistant you choose, implementing these practices will help protect sensitive business information:

Configure privacy settings immediately: Don’t rely on default settings. Most platforms enable data collection by default, requiring users to actively opt out of AI training and human review.

Use private modes for sensitive conversations: When discussing confidential business matters, client information, or strategic plans, always use the platform’s private or temporary conversation mode if available.

Regularly review and delete conversation history: Even with privacy settings enabled, periodically clearing your conversation history reduces long-term exposure risks.

Avoid sharing sensitive information entirely: No privacy setting is foolproof. For truly sensitive business discussions, consider whether AI assistance is necessary at all.

Understand your organization’s AI policies: Many companies are developing specific guidelines for AI tool usage. Ensure your practices align with organizational requirements and compliance obligations.

The AI privacy landscape continues evolving as regulators increase scrutiny and companies adjust their practices. Staying informed about privacy policy changes and regularly reviewing your settings helps maintain appropriate protection for your business communications and sensitive information.