Are my chats used for AI training?

It’s a question that might creep into your mind quietly and slowly, usually in the middle of pasting a sensitive email draft or a snippet of proprietary code into a chatbot: Is all of this used to train the next AI model? Is my chat private? Didn’t someone say that random people might look at this for evaluation purposes?

In a lot of cases, the answer is not a simple “yes” or “no.” It is usually a confusing “it depends.”

As generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini have become staples in our daily workflows, the line between being a customer and being a data source has blurred.

For this article, I looked at the current data policies of five major AI platforms.

Let’s see what I found out.

1. The basics: The “free vs. paid” trap

I sometimes see the assumption that upgrading to a paid subscription like ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro automatically buys privacy. The logic seems sound: “If I am paying for the product, I am no longer the product.” Isn’t that what we’ve learned?

Unfortunately, this is not automatically correct.

When it comes to data privacy, the industry does not distinguish primarily between “free” and “paid” users. Instead, the real dividing line is between Individual Consumer accounts and Enterprise/Team accounts.

The consumer tier (Free, Plus, Pro …)

If you are using a personal account, the default setting is often to use your chats for training. This is true whether you are on a free tier or paying a monthly subscription (typically around $20). The AI companies generally view these subscriptions as paying for access to better models and faster speeds, not necessarily for data isolation.

For freelancers and solopreneurs, this is an important distinction: Upgrading to a “Pro” plan often unlocks features, but it does not automatically close the door on model training.

The commercial tier (Team, Enterprise, Workspace …)

The rules change when you move to business-grade tiers. Plans labeled “Team,” “Enterprise,” “Workspace,” or similar almost universally default to not training on your data.

Why the split? On the one hand, AI companies need “out-of-distribution” data to improve their models: the messy, real-world, unpredictable queries that real humans type. Consumer tiers provide this essential and very valuable fuel. Enterprise clients, on the other hand, demand strict confidentiality for legal and security reasons, forcing AI providers to build a firewall around those interactions to secure the contracts. And these entities pay handsomely for the privilege. A freelancer’s few dollars a month pale in comparison.

And then there’s the fine print

If it was this simple and easy, this article would already be done. But every platform has its own quirks and specific rules. Let’s explore each one of them and see if and how you can adjust your settings.

2. OpenAI ChatGPT

OpenAI splits its user base into the already mentioned two distinct privacy camps.

For individual accounts (Free, Go, Plus, and Pro): Training is ON by default. Whether you are using the free version or paying $200/month for the Pro tier, OpenAI’s policy allows them to use your conversations to improve their models.

For company accounts (Business and Enterprise): Training is OFF by default. Data entered into ChatGPT Business or Enterprise workspaces is excluded from model training automatically.

How to opt out

If you are an individual user, you do not have to accept the default. OpenAI provides a setting to switch this off:

1. Go to Settings > Data Controls.
2. Toggle off “Improve the model for everyone.”

Doing this prevents your future chats from being used for training. This setting syncs across your devices: If you turn it off on your phone, it turns off on your desktop.

The “temporary chat” option

For users who don’t want to dig through settings for a one-off sensitive task, OpenAI offers Temporary Chat. In this mode, the chat history is blank, and the conversation is not used for model training.

Important distinction: training vs. retention

But there’s one important caveat: “Not training” does not mean “not saving.”

Even if you opt out of training or use Temporary Chat, OpenAI still retains your conversations for 30 days on their servers before permanently deleting them. This is a safety measure designed to monitor for abuse (such as generating harmful content). While human reviewers do not typically look at these chats, they exist in the system for that 30-day window.

Official sources

• What if I want to keep my history on but disable model training?
• Data Usage for Consumer Services FAQ
• OpenAI Privacy Portal

3. Google Gemini

If you use Gemini, your privacy status is directly tied to the type of Google Account you are logged into. The distinction here is stark, and the available settings force a difficult trade-off for consumers.

For personal accounts (@gmail.com): Training is ON by default. Google collects your conversations to train its models and to facilitate human review. To stop this, you must disable a setting called “Gemini Apps Activity.” More about that below.

For workspace accounts (Business/Education): Training is OFF by default. If you are logged in with a paid Google Workspace account (e.g., your company email), Google’s “enterprise data protection” applies. Your data is not used for training, and it is not subject to human review.

How to opt out

For personal users, opting out of training comes with a significant usability cost. Unlike ChatGPT, where you can keep your chat history while opting out of training, Gemini links these two features together.

• If you turn “Gemini Apps Activity” OFF: Google stops using your data for training, but you lose your chat history. You cannot save past conversations to refer to later. This is a major inconvenience.
• If you leave it ON: You get your history, but your data is fair game for the model.

The 3-year human review rule

Google’s policy contains another critical detail: To improve their technology, Google takes a subset of conversations from user accounts and sends them to trained human reviewers.

Here is the important part: These sampled chats are “disconnected” (anonymized) from your account, but they are not deleted when you delete your Google history. According to Google’s privacy notice, these specific reviewed samples can be retained for up to three years.

This means that even if you diligently wipe your history today, a snippet of a conversation you had six months ago might still exist in a training dataset if it was selected for human review.

Official sources:

• Manage & delete your Gemini Apps activity
• Gemini Apps Privacy Hub
• Generative AI Security, Compliance and Privacy | Google Workspace
• Gemini for Google Workspace FAQ

4. Anthropic Claude

For a long time, Anthropic positioned itself as the “privacy-first” alternative in the AI market. However, a significant policy update in late 2025 changed this notion for consumer accounts.

For personal accounts (Free, Pro): Training is ON by default. As of September 2025, if you use a personal Claude account, including the paid Pro version, your chats can be used to train their models.

For team and enterprise accounts: Training is OFF by default. Just like its competitors, Anthropic ring-fences its very important and lucrative business products. If you are on a Team or Enterprise plan, your data is never used for training.

How to opt out

If you are a personal user, you can stop this data collection:

1. Click on your initials in the bottom left corner.
2. Go to Settings > Privacy.
3. Toggle off the option to “Help improve Claude.”

Once disabled, your future conversations are excluded from training.

The “incognito mode” feature

Anthropic also offers an Incognito mode. (Note: look for a ghost icon).

Unlike standard chats, conversations in Incognito mode are not saved to your chat history and are explicitly excluded from model training. However, similar to OpenAI’s temporary chats, Anthropic retains these sessions for a short window (usually 30 days) for safety and abuse monitoring before deletion.

Official sources:

• Is my data used for model training? (Consumers)
• Is my data used for model training? (Commercial)
• How Do You Use Personal Data in Model Training?
• Using incognito chats

5. Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft’s approach is also less about which service or app you use, and almost entirely about how you log in.

For personal accounts (Hotmail, Outlook, Live): Training is ON by default. If you sign in with a personal Microsoft account, your data can be used to improve Microsoft’s consumer services, including training their AI models.

For work accounts (Entra ID / Microsoft 365): Training is OFF by default. If you sign in with a work or school account (formerly Azure Active Directory), you are covered by Enterprise Data Protection (EDP). Your prompts and responses are not used to train the foundation models.

How to opt out

Microsoft does offer an opt-out for personal users, though it can be hard to find:

1. Go to the Copilot web interface or app settings.
2. Navigate to Privacy or Profile Settings.
3. Look for “Model training” or “Share data for improvements.”
4. Toggle this setting OFF.

Official sources:

• Privacy FAQ for Microsoft Copilot
• Is there a difference in data privacy between copilot free and copilot pro?
• Data, Privacy, and Security for Microsoft 365 Copilot
• Microsoft Copilot privacy controls

6. Mistral Le Chat

The French AI champion Mistral often positions itself as the more open, GDPR-conscious European alternative. However, its default settings for its chat assistant “Le Chat” follow the same general pattern as its US competitors.

For personal accounts (Free, Pro, Student): Training is ON by default. Mistral’s policy states that conversations on these plans may be used to train and fine-tune their models.

For business accounts (Team, Enterprise): Training is OFF by default. If you are on a Team or Enterprise plan, your input and output data are strictly excluded from training.

The “connector” guarantee

Mistral offers a feature called “Connectors” that lets Le Chat access your external data, such as your Google Drive, Slack, or Notion.

Here is the good news: Mistral guarantees that data accessed via Connectors is never used for training, regardless of which plan you are on. Even if you haven’t opted out of chat training, the specific documents and emails Le Chat reads from your connected apps are off-limits for model improvement.

How to opt out

If you are on a personal plan (Free or Pro), you can stop your chat conversations from being used for training:

1. Go to Settings (or Data & Account Controls on mobile).
2. Look for the Privacy section.
3. Toggle off “Allow your interactions to be used to train our models.”

Official sources

• Can I opt out of my input or output data being used for training?
• Do you use my Connectors data for training?

7. Summary & recommendations

After looking at these five major players, the short answer to “Are my chats used for AI training?” is: Yes, unless you take specific action.

If you want to keep your data out of the models, here is your action plan:

For freelancers and consultants

• Check your settings: Go to the respective section of every tool you use and look for the training toggle.
• Beware the “history” trade-off: On Google Gemini, realize that opting out of training currently means losing your ability to save chats. You may need to decide which is more important for you.
• Use temporary chats: For highly sensitive one-off tasks (like pasting a client’s contract), use features like OpenAI’s “Temporary Chat” or Anthropic’s “Incognito Mode.”

For small business owners

• Upgrade to “Team” plans: If your employees are using AI to write code or draft strategy, a “Team” subscription is often worth the extra cost. Besides helpful tools for account management, you are paying for the legal contract that explicitly excludes your data from training in addition to collaboration features.
• Centralize billing: Avoid letting employees reimburse personal “Pro” subscriptions. As you’ve seen: a personal Pro account is a privacy leak. A corporate Team account is safer.

For enterprise managers

• Identity is the firewall: The biggest risk to your data is your employees logging in with their personal @gmail.com or @outlook.com accounts.
• Enforce SSO: Ensure that access to tools like Copilot or ChatGPT is strictly gated through your corporate identity provider (SSO). This ensures that the “Enterprise Data Protection” you paid for is actually being applied.

P.S.: None of this is a problem if you host and manage your own AI tools. This is one of the many advantages of “Local AI” I will cover in a future article. If you want to make sure you don’t miss that one, subscribe to the bi-weekly newsletter!