AI tool privacy · OpenAI
ChatGPT and your company’s data
By David Michaelson, MS Last checked October 23, 2026
The short answer
ChatGPT Business and Enterprise do not train on your data by default; on Free, Plus, and Pro, OpenAI may use your chats to train its models unless you turn that off.
Safer setup: Use ChatGPT Business or Enterprise for work. On a personal plan, turn off “Improve the model for everyone” and use Temporary Chat for anything sensitive.
Plan by plan
Each answer comes from OpenAI’s own policy or help pages, with the link and the date we read it. Setting names are quoted exactly as OpenAI writes them.
We could not confirm 1 answer on OpenAI’s own pages. That answer says so in plain words and links to the page we checked.
| Question | Free, Plus, and Pro | ChatGPT Business | ChatGPT Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trains on your data by default? | Yes, unless you turn it off. OpenAI says it may use your content to train its models. Turn off “Improve the model for everyone” under Settings > Data controls. If you give a thumbs up or down, the whole chat may be used for training even after you opt out. Read on October 23, 2026 Source: help.openai.com | No, not by default. OpenAI says it does not use inputs or outputs from ChatGPT Business to improve its models, and a thumbs up or down does not change that. Read on October 23, 2026 Source: help.openai.com | No, not by default, unless your organization opts in to share data. Read on October 23, 2026 Source: openai.com |
| How long your data is kept | Saved chats stay until you delete them. Deleted chats are scheduled for permanent deletion within 30 days, unless OpenAI must keep them longer for security or legal reasons. Temporary chats may be kept for up to 30 days for safety. Read on October 23, 2026 Source: help.openai.com | Workspace admins can control how long data is kept. Deleted or unsaved conversations are removed within 30 days, unless the law or protecting the service requires longer. Read on October 23, 2026 Source: openai.com | Workspace admins control how long data is kept. Deleted conversations are removed within 30 days, unless OpenAI is legally required to keep them. Read on October 23, 2026 Source: openai.com |
| Who can see it | OpenAI’s policy does not describe company access to a personal account. It says that if you sign up with a work email, OpenAI may share that you have an account, and your email address, with your employer. Read on October 23, 2026 Source: openai.com | Each person sees their own conversations. Workspace admins can view, access, export, and delete members’ conversations. Read on October 23, 2026 Source: openai.com | Each person sees their own conversations. Workspace admins can access an audit log of conversations through the Enterprise Compliance API. Read on October 23, 2026 Source: openai.com |
| Where data is stored | On servers in the United States and in other countries where OpenAI’s affiliates, partners, or vendors are located. Read on October 23, 2026 Source: openai.com | Not stated for this plan on the page we read. OpenAI lists data residency choices for eligible Enterprise, Edu, Healthcare, and API customers, not Business. Page checked: openai.com, October 23, 2026 | Eligible Enterprise customers can store content at rest in the U.S., Europe, UK, Japan, Canada, South Korea, Singapore, Australia, India, or the UAE. Read on October 23, 2026 Source: openai.com |
| How to delete | In your chat history, open the ••• menu on a chat and select Delete. To clear everything, open Settings > Data controls > Delete all chats. Deleted chats cannot be restored. Read on October 23, 2026 Source: help.openai.com | Members delete chats from the ••• menu or Settings > Data controls. Admins can also delete members’ conversations. Read on October 23, 2026 Source: help.openai.com | Members delete chats from the ••• menu or Settings > Data controls. Deleted conversations are removed within 30 days, unless OpenAI is legally required to keep them. Read on October 23, 2026 Source: help.openai.com |
Safer setup, step by step
- On a personal plan, open Settings > Data controls and turn off “Improve the model for everyone.” Source: help.openai.com for this step
- Use Temporary Chat when a chat should not be saved to history or used to improve models. Source: help.openai.com for this step
- For a team, use ChatGPT Business or Enterprise, where OpenAI says it does not train on your business data by default. Source: openai.com for this step
What to write in your policy
Staff may use ChatGPT for work only through our company ChatGPT Business or Enterprise workspace. Customer data never goes into a personal ChatGPT account.
Building your own approved tools list? The SafeStart Handbook includes one, with company accounts and safer privacy settings.