Does ChatGPT use your data for training? What to check in ChatGPT and Claude

An AI assistant has to process your prompt to answer it. Using the conversation to improve future models is a separate use of that information.

Whether your chats are used for training depends on the service and the account you use, including its model-improvement choices. Paying for an individual subscription does not automatically give it the same terms as a business account.

Here is how to make a useful decision without confusing training with everything else the service does.

Find out which account you are using

Start with the account menu. Check whether you are in your personal account or an organisation’s workspace, especially if you switch between them in the same browser.

For ChatGPT Business, Enterprise and Edu workspaces, OpenAI’s Work cloud security documentation states that business data is not used to train models by default. That commitment applies to the named workspaces. It is not a statement about every account with a paid subscription.

Your employer may also impose its own rules on which material belongs in the workspace. A provider’s training commitment does not cancel a confidentiality obligation.

If you are using a personal ChatGPT account (Free, Plus or Pro), OpenAI’s data controls guide says your conversations can be used to train its models by default. The control is called Improve the model for everyone. On the web, open the account menu and go to Settings → Data controls. In the mobile app, open the sidebar, tap your profile icon and choose Data controls. Check the account itself, rather than assuming a screenshot from another person’s subscription applies to you.

Review the training choice before sending sensitive information

Look for wording about improving models or using conversations for training. Read the explanation attached to the control before changing it.

If you do not want your conversations used for that purpose, disable the optional model-improvement choice offered to your account. Check that the new setting has been saved.

ChatGPT also offers Temporary Chat. OpenAI’s Temporary Chat guide says these chats are not used to improve its models while they remain temporary, although a copy may be kept for up to 30 days for safety purposes.

Do this before submitting the material. A later change is not a reliable way to undo every previous use of data.

Do not treat an assistant’s answer to “Do you train on this?” as your account’s privacy settings. The model may describe a general rule without knowing the account or workspace you are currently using.

If a document is confidential enough that uncertainty would prevent you sharing it, keep it out of the service while you resolve that question.

In Claude, check Help Improve our AI models

For Claude consumer accounts, open Settings → Privacy and find Help Improve our AI models.

Anthropic’s settings guide explains that switching this off prevents new and previous chats from being used in future training. It does not undo training already under way or completed. If you leave it on, Anthropic’s retention guide says it may keep your chats in a de-identified form for up to 5 years in its training pipelines.

Its consumer training policy also describes separate circumstances: conversations flagged for safety review, and cases where you explicitly opt in, such as by joining its Trusted Tester Program. Read those qualifications alongside the setting.

Claude’s Incognito chats are not used for model training under its current Incognito documentation. That is a statement about that feature, not a general promise that no data is processed or retained.

Check the correct policy if you use Claude through an organisation. Consumer and commercial arrangements are different.

Be deliberate about feedback

A thumbs-up or thumbs-down can do more than record whether an answer was good.

Anthropic’s privacy policy explains that a thumbs-up or thumbs-down can store the entire related conversation, and that feedback can be used for model improvement even if you have switched off Help Improve our AI models. Anthropic keeps feedback data for 5 years. OpenAI’s help centre gives a similar warning for personal ChatGPT accounts: the whole conversation linked to your feedback may be used to improve its models even if you have opted out.

Before giving feedback on a sensitive exchange, read the notice attached to the feedback process.

You can report a poor answer without adding a new private document to prove that it was wrong. Describe the error using the smallest useful example.

This is particularly relevant when the original conversation contains someone else’s information. Your own willingness to give feedback does not settle whether you may share their details.

Keep reusable context small with AI Passport

Training controls answer one question about data use. They do not decide how much background you need to send in the first place.

AI Passport holds selected personal context that connected assistants can use with your permission. If you routinely paste old conversations to explain how you like to work, you could instead keep a short, approved preference.

For example, save that you prefer explanations aimed at a beginner and want unfamiliar terms defined. You do not need to keep the private conversation in which you first asked for that help.

Ask your connected assistant to propose the preference for Passport. Review the wording before approving it, then allow the relevant assistant to retrieve that category when needed.

Passport controls access to that selected context. Once an assistant receives it, that service’s own data rules apply. Passport does not switch off training or retention in another service.

Training is only part of the decision

Turning off optional training does not make the chat local to your device. The provider still has to handle information to supply the service. Retention follows its own rules, although in Claude the training choice does affect how long Anthropic may keep data for training.

Nor does a saved conversation mean its contents have necessarily been used to train a model. History and training are different controls. In ChatGPT, conversations you have with Improve the model for everyone switched off still appear in your history.

Set the training preference for the account you actually use. Keep unnecessary private details out of the prompt even when optional training is off.