Zero data retention

A contractual setting where the AI provider keeps none of your inputs or outputs after processing them. Nothing is stored, nothing is logged, nothing can be handed over later. The strongest data posture available, and usually an API-only option, not something you get in the chat app.

What it is

Normally an AI provider retains your conversations for some window (to run the service, monitor abuse, or improve the model). Zero data retention switches that off by contract: your data passes through, gets an answer, and is gone. Because it requires giving up the logs providers use for abuse-monitoring, ZDR is typically negotiated for API access by companies building on top of the model, not flipped on inside the consumer chat app.

Why CEOs care

Because ZDR is the answer to "but what if it is stored and subpoenaed later." When a 2025 court order forced an AI provider to preserve even deleted consumer chats, the customers exempt from it were the ones on zero-retention terms, there was simply nothing to preserve. If your business handles regulated or highly sensitive data, ZDR is worth asking a vendor about directly. Just do not assume your team's chat app has it; it almost certainly does not.

Where you'll see it

In vendor contracts and data processing agreements, and in the fine print of "is your data safe in AI." Ask any AI vendor: "Do you offer zero data retention, and on which plan?"

Example

A health-adjacent company builds an internal tool on an AI API with ZDR enabled, so patient-related text is processed but never stored. The same company keeps staff off consumer chat apps, which retain by default.

Related

• pii
• dpa