Engadget
Every model uses your conversations as training material by default.
ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot and Grok all have one thing in common: Not how deep they bury their subscription cancellation options into the settings menu, but how they all use consumer conversations to train their models. Unless you opt out, that is.
Doing so takes about a minute per service and, because personalization and memory are managed by separate settings, it shouldn't have any impact on your day-to-day use. US users have no option to opt out of training and since December last year, the company has used Meta AI chats for ad targeting, also without a way to decline.
Opting out of having your data used for model training doesn't apply retrospectively, meaning your old chats can still be used. Doing so also doesn't delete any of your data, which is subject to each platform's policies on data retention.
OpenAI's opt-out toggle is called Improve the model for everyone, found under Settings and then Data Controls.
Anthropic didn't use consumer chats for model training until August last year, when it rewrote Claude's terms and gave every Free, Pro and Max user a deadline of September 28 to accept or decline.
Switching off this setting ends training use and stops interactions from being saved to Gemini's chat history.
People in the UK and EU, meanwhile, are protected by strong data privacy laws under the EU General Data Protection Regulation, and they can object to their information being used for model training through a form in Meta's privacy center.