What Happens to Your Personal Data in AI? ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini Privacy Compared

Have you shared a private worry with ChatGPT, uploaded a personal document to Claude, or sent a family photo to Gemini? The answer may have helped, yet after closing the chat you may still wonder: “What happens to the information I sent?”

Hearing that AI “collects personal information” can make it sound as though company staff read every conversation, or your story will appear word for word in someone else's answer. You may also wonder whether paying for a subscription removes those concerns.

Sending information to AI does not automatically make it public. Processing it to answer you, keeping a conversation, using it to train AI, and having a person review it are different things. Both free and paid services process information to provide their service. Understanding what is retained and what may be used for training helps you see the choices you have.

What AI data collection means

After you send information to AI, distinguish four things:

• Generating an answer: The computers running the service—its servers—receive your material to summarize a document or describe a photo.
• Keeping a conversation: The service retains a record so you can return to the chat or it can investigate a service problem.
• Training the model: Material is used to improve the AI's ability to answer questions.
• Human review: Authorized people examine content when needed for support, safety checks, or quality improvement.

Processing a document to summarize it and using that document to train a future AI model are separate tasks. “I sent it to a server” does not, by itself, mean “it was used for training” or “a staff member read it.”

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Does paying stop data collection?

Both free and paid services receive your questions and material to generate answers. A personal subscription does not eliminate the processing of conversations, account details, or payment information.

Training is a separate question. Claude's official pricing page says users of Free, Pro, and Max can opt out of training. ChatGPT also offers settings that control the use of personal content for training. Do not assume training is off because you paid. Check the training choice you made.

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Can staff or other people see my chats?

This does not mean every employee reads every conversation. OpenAI says authorized staff and service providers may access content when needed for support, troubleshooting, security incidents, or legal matters. Opting out removes access for model improvement, but does not eliminate access for support or security. Gemini also says people may review content to provide responses or for safety even when activity is off.

Showing your original conversation to other users is a sharing feature, separate from training. For example, if you create a shared conversation link in a personal ChatGPT account, anyone with that link can view the shared content. Photos or files may be included, so check the sharing screen before sending the link.

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Could my story appear in another answer?

Training does not mean your conversation is published or added to a searchable list of chats. OpenAI explains that models learn relationships between expressions in text and use what they have learned to generate new answers. This differs from publishing your original conversation for people to search.

Still, it is not possible to promise that training material can never be reproduced. OpenAI has described instances of public news content being reproduced, along with measures to reduce this. That explanation about public articles is not evidence that your private conversation has been exposed.

If you do not want your story used to improve AI, you can opt out where that option is available. That choice is separate from deleting the original conversation.

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What changes when I opt out or delete?

• Turning off training: ChatGPT excludes new conversations after you turn it off. Claude excludes past and new conversations from future training, but does not undo training already underway or completed.
• Deleting a conversation: This starts the process of removing a stored chat. ChatGPT normally deletes it within 30 days, with exceptions such as legal or safety requirements.
• Deleting a shared link: This stops access through the link. In ChatGPT, it does not remove copies someone else has already saved.

Turning off training does not immediately delete your material. Gemini may retain conversations for up to 72 hours even when activity is off. “I do not want to participate in training” and “I want my chat history removed” require separate settings or deletion actions.

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How your service handles your information

Check what your service collects, whether it uses content for training, how to opt out, and when deletion happens. The consumer-service information below was checked on October 12, 2026. Account and payment details, IP addresses, device information, and usage records may also be collected. Where the evidence covers a particular country or language version, that scope is stated below; it should not be treated as a guarantee for every regional account.

If you do not want training

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US services: settings and deletion

ChatGPT — free and personal paid plans

The English privacy policy linked below is OpenAI's Rest of World policy. The US and EEA/UK/Switzerland have separate policies; Korea has supplementary provisions.

1. What does it collect? Conversations, uploaded files and photos, audio and video, and material from connected services.
2. Can it train on my chats? It may use them when “Improve the model for everyone” is on.
3. How do I turn it off? Turn off “Improve the model for everyone” in settings. New conversations after that point are excluded. If you submit feedback, the related conversation may be used for training.
4. When is deleted content removed? Normally within 30 days. Temporary Chats may also be retained for up to 30 days. Exceptions include legal or safety requirements and material already de-identified.

Claude — free and personal paid plans

1. What does it collect? Conversations, uploaded files, connected material, and conversations included in feedback.
2. Can it train on my chats? It may do so when you enable the training permission. Free, Pro, and Max all allow users to opt out.
3. How do I turn it off? Turn off “Model Improvement” in privacy settings. Past and new conversations are excluded from future training. This does not undo training underway or completed. Feedback and safety-review material are exceptions.
4. When is deleted content removed? From the servers within 30 days. De-identified training material from conversations started or resumed after you enable training may be retained for up to 5 years; feedback material may also be retained for 5 years. Conversations flagged for policy violations may remain for up to 2 years, with legal exceptions as well. Deleted conversations are excluded from future training, but deletion does not undo training already performed.

Gemini — free and personal paid plans

1. What does it collect? Conversations, photos, files, audio, video, screen sharing, and material from connected apps.
2. Can it train on my chats? It may use conversations when “Keep Activity” is on. The use of raw audio, Live video, and screen sharing for improvement is a separate choice; transcripts follow the conversation activity setting.
3. How do I turn it off? Turn off “Keep Activity.” Subsequent conversations are not used for training, with feedback as an exception.
4. When is deleted content removed? The official documents reviewed do not specify how many days it takes to fully remove manually deleted material from servers. Human-reviewed material may remain for up to 3 years even after you delete the activity. With activity off or temporary chats, conversations may remain for up to 72 hours. The default automatic deletion period for activity you have not deleted is 18 months.

Even with activity off, people may review content to provide responses or perform safety checks.

Grok.com and the Grok app — free and personal paid plans

1. What does it collect? Conversations, uploaded files and photos, audio and video, and connected content.
2. Can it train on my chats? Personal conversations may be used for training. The official documents reviewed do not establish whether payment alone automatically excludes them.
3. How do I turn it off? Turn off “Improve the Model.” New conversations after that point are excluded. Feedback is an exception; Private Chat is not used for training.
4. When is deleted content removed? Deleted conversations and Private Chats are normally removed within up to 30 days. Exceptions include legal or safety requirements and already de-identified material.

A limited group of staff may view conversations for purposes such as safety or abuse investigations. For Grok inside X, check X's separate policies and settings.

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Services from China: opt-outs and unknowns

DeepSeek — Korean-policy reference

For English/international accounts, we could not verify the training opt-out and deletion rules. The official policy linked here covers users in Korea.

1. What does the Korean policy say it collects? It lists conversations, voice input, uploaded files and photos, feedback, and chat history.
2. Does the Korean policy allow training use? Yes, this policy allows such use.
3. What opt-out does the Korean policy describe? It describes turning off “모두를 위해 모델 개선” in the settings control center. The label and availability of this control for English/international accounts were not verified.
4. What deletion rules does the Korean policy describe? It does not give a deletion deadline in days. Under this policy, data is retained until account closure or fulfillment of the collection purpose; transaction records may remain for legally required periods.

The Korean policy states that information is collected and processed on servers in China.

Kimi — free and paid personal memberships

The collection, storage and deletion details below come from Kimi's Chinese consumer policy, not verified terms for English/international accounts. Its English help page describes a training opt-out; we did not confirm availability for every regional account.

1. What does the Chinese consumer policy say it collects? It lists conversations, photos, files, audio, video, and other submitted content.
2. What does the English help page say about training? It says submitted content may be used for model training.
3. What opt-out process does the help page describe? It describes requesting an opt-out through the customer support email listed in Data Usage and Sharing. After identity verification, the request is registered within 5–7 business days. Once completed, past and new conversations are excluded from training datasets. Membership benefits remain unchanged; per-conversation or per-file opt-outs are not supported.
4. What does the Chinese policy say about deletion? It does not give an exact number of days. Logs subject to legal retention may remain after account closure.

The Chinese consumer policy reviewed specifies storage in mainland China. We did not verify the storage location for English/international accounts. Membership names vary by access region.

MiniMax Agent — free and personal paid plans

1. What does it collect? It processes submitted material and content from connected accounts you authorize it to access.
2. Can it train on my chats? The official documents reviewed do not establish whether training is on by default or whether it differs by plan.
3. How do I turn it off? The official documents reviewed do not establish a training opt-out method.
4. When is deleted content removed? The official documents reviewed do not give an exact number of days.

Z.ai Chat — personal web service

1. What does it collect? Entered conversations and images, account details, device information, and usage records.
2. Can it train on my chats? The terms allow conversation content that is not personal data to be used for AI training and improvement. The official documents reviewed do not establish the training default for your account.
3. How do I turn it off? The official documents reviewed do not establish a training opt-out method.
4. When is deleted content removed? The service says conversations are removed from your history immediately and also deleted from the servers, but does not give an exact number of days. Exceptions include legal requirements, handling violations, and anonymized material.

The consumer policy says processing normally takes place in Singapore.

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Korean and Japanese services: check free access too

NAVER AI탭 — Korean service

1. What does it collect? Conversations, documents, photos, audio, and video, and it uses activity such as NAVER search and shopping history.
2. Can it train on my chats? Conversations from periods when “연구 및 서비스 개발에 내 대화 활용” is on may be de-identified and used for training. This Korean setting concerns using your conversations for research and service development.
3. How do I turn it off? Turn off “연구 및 서비스 개발에 내 대화 활용.” Memory and personalization are managed separately.
4. When is deleted content removed? The guidance says manually deleted conversations are removed without delay, but does not give a deadline in days. The ordinary conversation retention period is 12 months; de-identified research material is kept for 5 years. Shared conversations copied by someone else are separate.

Upstage Studio — personal Free and Small plans

This section uses the Korean service terms and privacy policy reviewed for Studio.

1. What does it collect? Submitted material, uploaded documents, generation and usage records, and account and payment details.
2. Can it train on my material? For paid services, the default under the terms is no use for training, with separate prior consent as an exception. Services offered free on an ongoing basis may use it for training. A paid product temporarily offered as a free trial is excluded from that free-service exception.
3. How do I turn it off? The official documents reviewed do not establish a setting for turning off training.
4. When is deleted content removed? Saved workflow documents are retained until account closure or the end of the entrusted processing arrangement. If you only cancel the subscription, service-related information is retained for 3 months and then deleted, except for records subject to legal retention. The official documents reviewed do not specify how many days it takes to fully remove an individual deleted document.

Operations and storage are entrusted to AWS in the US. The Solar Chat demo is a different product from a Studio subscription.

Japan's PLaMo Chat — free for a limited period

1. What does it collect? It processes inputs and outputs, account information, login records, and usage records.
2. Can it train on my chats? Free Chat content may be used to improve AI, and people may read it for that purpose.
3. How do I turn it off? The official documents reviewed do not establish a training opt-out method. Do not enter personal data: the free-service terms prohibit it.
4. When is deleted content removed? The official documents reviewed do not give an exact number of days.

For individual users, eligibility includes residence in Japan and being at least 18 years old.

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Before you share your information

If you do not want training, opt out first. To remove material, also delete the conversations, files, and shared links separately. Turning off training alone does not delete material from the servers.

If the official documents do not establish how to opt out or when deletion happens, ask support about both before uploading private worries or personal documents. Remove names, contact details, and other people's information that the request does not need.

A company's country of origin does not tell you where it stores your information. Some services do not disclose the exact storage country.

Built on an independent AI comparison platform, AIB helps you choose and use AI that fits your work and budget. If you are deciding which AI to subscribe to, looking to reduce costs, or want more from the AI you already use, talk to AIB.

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Sources

Training, staff access, and conversation sharing — includes Japanese OpenAI pages
ChatGPT及び当社言語モデルの開発方法について · How OpenAI handles data in consumer services · Sharing conversations and scheduled tasks in ChatGPT · OpenAI とジャーナリズム

ChatGPT — personal data controls, collection, and training; Rest of World privacy policy
Data controls in ChatGPT · Privacy policy · How your data is used to improve model performance

Claude — personal plans, training, and retention; pricing page in Japanese
プランと料金 · Consumer Terms of Service · How long do you store my data?

Gemini — personal subscriptions and privacy; plans page reviewed in Korean
Google AI 요금제 · Gemini Apps Privacy Hub

Grok — personal plans, training, review, and transfers
Pricing: Compare Grok Plans · SpaceXSI Consumer FAQs · Terms of Service - Consumer

DeepSeek — personal data processing; Korean-language policy
DeepSeek 개인정보 처리방침

Kimi — personal training, memberships, and storage; Chinese consumer policy and region-specific membership guide
Data Usage and Sharing · Kimi Membership Plan Pricing and Benefits Comparison · Kimi隐私政策

MiniMax Agent — personal data processing
MiniMax AI App and Web Privacy Policy · MiniMax AI App and Web Terms of Service

Z.ai Chat — consumer terms and privacy
Terms of Use · Privacy Policy

NAVER AI탭 — collection, training, and deletion; Korean service guidance
AI탭 서비스 개인정보 처리 안내

PLaMo Chat — availability and privacy; Japanese pages and service terms
PLaMo · PLaMo API、PLaMo Chat 利用規約 · プライバシーポリシー

Upstage Studio — personal subscriptions, retention, and training; Korean service terms and privacy policy reviewed
Upstage Studio Pricing · Terms of Use · Privacy Policy