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Freedom251 › Blog › AI Privacy

Privacy settings to change before using free AI software for work

By Freedom251 Team · · 9 min read

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

Do not paste company information into a free AI account until you know which account you are using, who controls its data, and whether model-improvement features are enabled. Personal free accounts generally use consumer privacy settings; work or school accounts may be governed by an administrator and a separate business contract. Before a work prompt, disable the service’s training or activity control, use a temporary or incognito chat for an isolated question, disconnect unnecessary apps, and follow your employer’s approved-data policy. These steps reduce exposure but do not turn a consumer account into an approved confidential-data environment.

Start with the account and the data, not the app

The same AI name can represent different privacy arrangements. A personal account that you created with a consumer email is normally subject to consumer settings. A work or school sign-in may be managed by an administrator, covered by an enterprise agreement, or both. You may not be able to change retention, training, logging, or review settings yourself.

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Classify the material before opening a chat:

  • Public information: material already approved for public release.
  • Internal information: routine business material that is not public but is not regulated or highly sensitive.
  • Confidential or proprietary information: source code, unreleased plans, customer lists, contracts, pricing, credentials, security findings, or trade secrets.
  • Regulated or personal information: health, financial, identity, employment, student, or other data governed by law or contract.

If your employer has not approved the exact service, account type, and configuration for the relevant data class, keep proprietary, personal, regulated, and credential material out of the prompt. A setting that limits training is not the same as a confidentiality promise, a deletion guarantee, or an approved processing agreement.

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Privacy controls at a glance

Service and account Training or activity control Temporary option Retention or review caveat Who controls it
ChatGPT, free personal Settings → Data controls → Improve the model for everyone: turn off Use a temporary chat when available Thumbs-up or thumbs-down feedback can send the entire associated conversation for model improvement, even after opting out The individual account holder
Claude, free consumer Review the Privacy/Model Improvement choice Incognito chats are not used to improve Claude Consumer terms are separate from commercial work and API terms The individual account holder, subject to consumer terms
Copilot, personal Microsoft account Profile menu → Settings → Privacy → Training on conversation activity: review or disable Use the available temporary conversation option where offered Personal and work/school products have different protections The individual for consumer settings
Copilot Chat, work or school account Ask IT which tenant policy applies Follow the organization’s approved workflow Enterprise data protection is provided automatically when signed in with a work or school account, according to Microsoft’s documentation The organization and its administrator
Gemini, personal account Gemini Apps Activity → Keep Activity: turn off for future chats Use a fresh conversation and avoid attachments for sensitive one-off questions Chats can still be kept for 72 hours for response, feedback, and safety; service-provider review can retain data up to three years The individual, within Google’s consumer controls
Gemini, work or school account Activity settings may be unavailable to the user Use the administrator-approved method Workspace administrators control activity and retention settings The Google Workspace administrator

ChatGPT: turn off model improvement on a free personal account

Change the setting before you type

  1. Open ChatGPT and select Settings.
  2. Open Data controls.
  3. Turn off Improve the model for everyone.

OpenAI says Free, Plus, and Pro users can opt out with this control. Make the change before entering work information; changing it afterward does not retroactively make an earlier conversation suitable for confidential data.

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Do not use feedback as a back door

If you select thumbs-up or thumbs-down on a response, OpenAI warns that it may use the entire conversation associated with that feedback even when you have opted out of general model improvement. Do not attach feedback to a conversation containing company material unless your organization’s policy permits that use.

Personal and business workspaces are different

OpenAI states that prompts, responses, and files in Business, Enterprise, and Edu workspaces are not used to improve models by default unless the organization has a separate agreement allowing it. That default applies to those managed workspace products, not automatically to a free personal account. Confirm that you are in the employer’s workspace rather than a personal browser session before uploading a file.

Claude: review Model Improvement and use Incognito for isolated questions

Review the consumer privacy choice

In a free consumer Claude account, open the privacy controls and review the Model Improvement choice. Turn it off if your organization’s policy permits use of that consumer account for the particular, non-confidential task. The control limits future use for improvement; it does not remove the need to avoid sensitive data.

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Use Incognito for a one-off prompt

Anthropic’s consumer guidance says: “Your Incognito chats are not used to improve Claude, even if you have enabled Model Improvement in your Privacy Settings.” Incognito is useful for an isolated question that you do not need in your history. It is not an enterprise contract, and it does not make a free account appropriate for secrets, regulated records, or proprietary files.

Do not infer commercial terms

Commercial Claude for Work and API terms are separate from consumer products. A free account does not inherit those protections merely because the same assistant is used by businesses. Ask procurement or IT which product and agreement apply.

Copilot: first determine whether the sign-in is personal or managed

Personal Microsoft account

  1. Open the Copilot profile menu.
  2. Select Settings.
  3. Open Privacy.
  4. Review or disable Training on conversation activity.

This path applies to consumer Copilot signed in with a personal Microsoft account. Check the control again after account changes or browser profile switches; a work identity can take you to a different product and policy.

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Work or school account

Microsoft documents that Copilot Chat signed in with a work or school account automatically provides enterprise data protection. The practical question is whether you are actually signed into the organization’s tenant. Ask IT which account, tenant, retention policy, and permitted data classes apply before pasting internal content. Do not assume that opening Copilot in a browser is enough to activate work protections.

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Gemini: understand what “Keep Activity off” does and does not do

Personal Google account

  1. Open Gemini Apps Activity.
  2. Turn Keep Activity off.
  3. Confirm the change and check the activity page before starting a work session.

Google says turning Keep Activity off means future chats are not saved in activity or used to train its AI models. It is not zero retention: future chats can still be stored for 72 hours for responding, processing feedback, and maintaining safety systems, according to Google’s 2026 guidance.

Automatic deletion is a separate choice

When activity is enabled, the default auto-delete period is 18 months. Google lists choices of three months, 36 months, or indefinite retention. These settings govern activity history; they do not erase copies that may already have been reviewed or retained for safety. Data reviewed by service providers can be retained for up to three years, according to Google’s notice.

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Work or school account

For a work or school Gemini account, the Google Workspace administrator controls activity settings. Users may not be able to change retention or see how long chats are kept. Treat the administrator’s policy as authoritative and ask for the approved data-handling procedure rather than trying to override a missing setting.

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What these settings cannot prevent

Processing needed to answer and protect the service

Turning off training or activity reduces a particular secondary use. The service still has to process your prompt, attachments, and conversation to generate a response, prevent abuse, secure the system, and handle safety operations. Google’s notice tells users not to enter confidential information they would not want a reviewer to see or Google to use to improve services, including machine-learning technologies.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

Human review and feedback

Some providers may review selected content for quality, safety, or abuse investigations under their applicable terms. Feedback can expand the material associated with a review; ChatGPT’s thumbs controls are an explicit example. If a reviewer seeing the text would harm your company, do not submit it to a consumer service.

Files, screenshots, and copied context

An attachment can contain more than the paragraph you intended to ask about: hidden spreadsheet tabs, document metadata, comments, tracked changes, EXIF data, or credentials in a screenshot. Sanitize files locally, remove unnecessary pages, and never upload passwords, API keys, private keys, session cookies, or full customer exports.

Connected applications

Connectors can send data from mail, drives, calendars, code repositories, or other services into the AI system. Google says connected-app activity can be used to improve services, including training generative AI models, when Keep Activity is on. Disconnecting an app does not delete data already present in Gemini Apps Activity. Remove connectors you do not need, review the scopes they hold, and delete existing activity through the provider’s controls where policy allows.

A safe workflow for a legitimate work question

  1. Check approval. Confirm that your employer permits the specific assistant, account type, and data classification. If there is no clear approval, use an internal tool or ask IT.
  2. Choose the right identity. Sign out of personal profiles or use a separate browser profile so a work prompt cannot land in a consumer account by mistake.
  3. Change the control. Disable ChatGPT’s Improve the model for everyone, review Claude’s Model Improvement setting, review Copilot’s Training on conversation activity, or turn off Gemini Keep Activity when appropriate.
  4. Prefer a temporary mode. Use Incognito or a temporary chat for a one-off question. Remember that temporary mode limits a use case; it does not create an approved confidential-data boundary.
  5. Minimize the prompt. Replace names with role labels, remove exact amounts and identifiers, summarize rather than paste, and provide only the lines needed to solve the problem.
  6. Inspect attachments. Strip metadata, hidden content, comments, and credentials. Do not upload a complete folder when one redacted excerpt is enough.
  7. Disconnect extras. Turn off unnecessary connectors and verify that the assistant is not importing a broader mailbox, drive, or repository than intended.
  8. Avoid feedback on sensitive chats. Do not rate or report a conversation containing internal material unless your organization’s policy expressly permits it.
  9. Clean up and document. Delete the chat or activity when policy requires, record which account and settings were used, and report accidental disclosure promptly.

If you already pasted company information

Stop further exposure

Do not continue the conversation, add feedback, upload related files, or connect more applications. Capture the account type, workspace or tenant, date, conversation identifier, and the exact material submitted so your security or privacy team can assess it.

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Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

Use the provider’s deletion controls

Delete the conversation or activity where the product permits it, disconnect any connector involved, and revoke access tokens if an application or repository was linked. Deletion may not remove copies already retained for safety, reviewed by a provider, or covered by an organization’s legal hold, so treat deletion as containment rather than proof that no copy exists.

Escalate credentials and regulated data

Rotate exposed passwords, API keys, tokens, and certificates immediately. For personal, health, financial, or regulated records, follow your incident-response and legal-notification procedures; changing a privacy toggle is not a substitute for those obligations.

Questions to ask IT, procurement, or a privacy officer

  • Is this exact product, edition, tenant, and account type approved?
  • Are prompts, responses, uploads, and feedback excluded from model training by contract or only by a user setting?
  • How long are chats, backups, safety logs, and human-review samples retained?
  • Where are data and support personnel located, and which transfer rules apply?
  • Are connected apps, browser extensions, plugins, or mobile keyboards allowed?
  • What data classes may be entered, and what redaction standard is required?
  • How are deletion requests, legal holds, and incident reports handled?

The practical rule

Use a free consumer AI account for public or carefully sanitized material only. Change the relevant training or activity setting first, use temporary modes for isolated questions, minimize every prompt and upload, and keep connectors disabled unless approved. For confidential, regulated, proprietary, or credential-bearing content, use an organization-approved environment with documented contractual and administrative controls—or do not submit the material at all.

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Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

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