LastChatAs AI chatbots become increasingly integrated into our daily lives, understanding how these platforms handle our data has never been more important. Whether you're brainstorming ideas for work or asking a personal question, knowing where your data goes and how it's used should be a key factor in choosing your AI assistant.
In this article, we'll take a look at the privacy approaches of four leading AI chatbots: OpenAI's ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude, Google's Gemini, and LastChat. Each of these popular AI assistants has made distinct choices about how they handle your conversations, from local storage solutions to cloud-based approaches.
We'll examine what happens to your data after you hit send, who can access your chats, and whether your conversations might be used to train future AI models. By the end of this comparison, you'll have a clearer picture of the privacy landscape across these popular AI assistants and be better equipped to choose the right tool for your needs.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and not legal advice. Privacy policies may change, so please review current policies directly.
Key Privacy Considerations
Before diving into specific AI assistants, let's establish what matters most when evaluating privacy:
- Where your conversations are stored
Storage location fundamentally determines who has access to your data. Cloud storage means your conversations exist on someone else's servers, creating inherent access and security risks. Local storage keeps your data physically on your device, under your control.
- What data is collected beyond your chats
AI chatbots may collect additional data about you, such as the files, images, and audio you upload in conversations. This data can enhance your experience, but it also raises additional privacy considerations.
- Whether your conversations are used to train AI models
When your conversations are used to train AI models, your private interactions become part of the system that powers other users' experiences. This means your personal questions or creative work may influence responses to complete strangers.
AI chatbot platforms vary in their default settings and transparency around these practices.
- Who can access your conversations
Some AI chatbot providers allow human review of your conversations for quality control. Others maintain strict access limitations. This directly impacts how private your interactions truly remain.
- Your control over your own data
Real privacy requires meaningful user control—the ability to view, manage, and delete your data. Some AI chatbots offer robust controls while others provide limited options buried in complex settings.
Direct Comparison: How AI Chatbots Handle Your Data
| Privacy Factor | LastChat | ChatGPT | Claude | Gemini |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Storage Location | Device only | Cloud servers | Cloud servers | Cloud servers |
| Conversation Collection | None [1] | Text, files, images, and audio [2] | Text, images, and documents | Text, voice, files, images, and screens [7] |
| Used for AI Training | No | Yes (opt-out available) | No by default (with exceptions) [4] | Yes (opt-out available) |
| Human Review | No | Yes [3] | Likely, but not directly stated | Yes [7] |
| User Control | Enhanced (local storage) | Limited (cloud storage) | Limited (cloud storage) | Limited (cloud ecosystem) |
AI Chatbot Privacy: Platform-by-Platform Comparison
OpenAI's ChatGPT
ChatGPT stores all your conversations on OpenAI's servers. Every prompt you enter and response you receive becomes part of OpenAI's data ecosystem. Unless you explicitly opt out, these conversations are used to train future AI models, turning your private interactions into training material for future models.
The platform collects other types of data beyond just text conversations. File attachments, images, and audio uploads are all stored and may be used for model training.
OpenAI offers some plans that do not train on your conversations by default, such as ChatGPT Team and Enterprise. You can, however, opt in to model training if you choose.
OpenAI also offers temporary chats that don't appear in your history; however, these conversations are still retained on OpenAI's servers for up to 30 days.
Overall, ChatGPT's approach prioritizes model improvement over user privacy, making it important to understand their data practices before using this popular AI chatbot.
Anthropic's Claude
Claude, like ChatGPT, stores all conversations on Anthropic's cloud servers. While Anthropic doesn't use your conversations to train their models unless you explicitly opt in, this policy comes with exceptions.
First, any conversation flagged by their automated systems for safety reasons can be used to train their models. These automated systems inevitably produce false positives, meaning regular conversations may end up as training data.
Second, when you provide feedback through features like thumbs up/down reactions, your entire conversation is collected along with that feedback. This data is stored for up to 10 years and may be used for model training. Many users don't realize that clicking a simple reaction button effectively opts them into having that conversation used for training purposes.
These exceptions create a privacy model that appears more restrictive than ChatGPT's on the surface, but contains significant pathways for your conversations to become training data regardless of your preferences.
Google's Gemini
Gemini represents the most extensive data collection approach among major AI chatbots, storing all conversations on Google's servers. Unlike some alternatives, Google is transparent about using interactions to improve their AI systems. The privacy policy clearly outlines Google's data collection, including chats, voice recordings, shared files, images, and screens.
The collected data can be used not only for Gemini, but across Google's entire ecosystem for broad based AI and product development. Like Claude, Gemini's feedback mechanism (thumbs up/down buttons) also captures entire conversations for model training.
Human review is a critical aspect of Gemini's data handling. Google acknowledges that human reviewers (including third parties) can read, annotate, and process conversations. While Google disconnects these conversations from user accounts before review, they explicitly warn users against sharing any data they wouldn't want a reviewer to see.
Users can opt out of AI model training and human review by disabling Gemini activity. However, previously reviewed conversations are retained for up to three years.
Gemini's privacy approach is transparent but involves an extensive data collection and AI training strategy.
LastChat
LastChat offers a privacy-first approach to AI by prioritizing user data protection.
The platform operates on a zero-retention model for conversation content. When you send a chat request, it's anonymized before being transmitted to LastChat's model provider for processing. Once a response is generated, neither your input nor the AI response is stored by LastChat or the model provider.
Your entire conversation history is stored solely on your device, giving you complete control and the ability to delete conversations instantly and permanently. File attachments receive the same treatment — they're transmitted for processing and immediately discarded by the server.
Since no conversation content is stored on external servers, your interactions cannot be used to train future AI models. This approach differs from alternative AI chatbots who view conversation data as a potential training resource.
For privacy-conscious users, LastChat offers a pragmatic solution. By eliminating conversation collection, human review, and AI model training, the platform demonstrates that AI functionality and comprehensive privacy can coexist.
Choosing the Right AI Chatbot for Your Privacy Needs
Choosing an AI chatbot isn't just about features. While ChatGPT and Claude offer robust capabilities, they're managed by companies whose primary business model revolves around AI model development. This creates an inherent tension between user privacy and leveraging conversation data for AI model training.
LastChat represents a different approach. As an independent platform that is not training foundation models, there's no economic motivation to collect or retain your conversations. The privacy model isn't a marketing feature—it's the core product.
Consider your privacy needs:
- Exploration and creativity: Cloud-based AI chatbots might suffice
- Professional work or personal discussions: Consider a privacy-first solution
- Concern about long-term data usage: Prioritize AI assistants with strict and simple privacy guarantees
Conclusion
Privacy in AI chatbots isn't a binary state—it's a spectrum of trust, control, and transparency. As these AI assistants become more integrated into our daily lives, the choices we make about our digital interactions matter more than ever.
LastChat demonstrates that privacy-first design doesn't mean compromising on AI utility. By keeping conversations local to your device, it offers a compelling alternative for privacy-conscious users.
After all, the most powerful AI tool is ultimately the one you can trust.