AI Privacy Guide: What Happens to the Data and Prompts You Submit?
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When you paste personal writing, corporate emails, or medical questions into cloud AI assistants, where does that information travel, who can view it, and can your prompts inadvertently leak into answers given to other internet users?
Quick Answer: By default, consumer cloud AI platforms use free-tier prompt data for model training and retain conversations for human moderation reviews. To preserve privacy: disable model training in settings, scrub personally identifying information (PII) before submitting, or run open-source models locally.
Privacy Comparison Across AI Usage Modes
| Platform Type | Data Retention | Trained on Prompts? | Privacy Recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free Consumer Web Apps | 30 days to indefinitely | Yes (by default) | Manually opt out in account privacy settings. |
| Official Developer APIs | Typically 30 days (abuse logs) | No (contractual zero-training) | Preferred for work and commercial projects. |
| Local LLMs (e.g. Ollama, LM Studio) | 100% on your local disk | Never leaves device | Ideal for medical notes and proprietary code. |
Practical Habit: De-identifying Prompts
Whenever you need assistance drafting a sensitive email or reviewing contract language, replace real entities with generic placeholders (e.g., replace “Acme Corp CEO Jane Doe” with “Company A Executive X”).
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