How to Opt Out of AI Training
Every Major Platform — 2026 Master Guide

Published July 13, 2026

Most AI and social platforms now train their models on what you type, post, or upload — and on the majority of them, that setting is on by default. The good news: nearly all of them let you opt out. The catch: every platform hides the switch somewhere different, and opting out never does quite as much as people assume. This master guide gives you the exact 2026 steps for every major platform, explains what opting out really changes, and covers the one move that beats opting out entirely.

Menus and setting names change often, so treat the steps below as a map, not a screenshot — if a label has moved, look for the nearest equivalent in the same settings area, and check the platform's current help page (linked at the end).

What Opting Out Actually Does — and Doesn't

Before the steps, understand the five rules that apply almost everywhere. They save a lot of false confidence:

• It's future-only. Opting out stops new data being used for training. It does not pull back anything already used.
• It doesn't delete your history. Your conversations usually still exist in your account and on the provider's servers — opting out of training and deleting data are separate actions.
• It doesn't stop retention or safety review. Providers still store data for a period and can review it for safety, abuse, and legal reasons, regardless of the training toggle.
• Business and API tiers are usually already excluded. Enterprise plans and paid APIs typically don't train on your data by default — the training-on-by-default problem is mostly a consumer one.
• Opting out ≠ anonymity. The provider still knows it's you. It just promises not to learn from your content going forward.

Quick Reference: Every Major Platform at a Glance

ChatGPT (OpenAI)

On consumer ChatGPT, conversations can be used to improve models unless you turn it off.

1. Open Settings → Data Controls.
2. Turn off "Improve the model for everyone."
3. For one-off sessions, use Temporary Chat, which stays out of history, memory, and training.

Business, Enterprise, Edu, and API usage are not used for training by default.

Claude (Anthropic)

Since an August 2025 change, Claude Free, Pro, and Max train on your chats unless you opt out — and the choice also sets your retention (opt out ≈ 30 days; leave it on ≈ up to 5 years).

1. Open Settings → Privacy.
2. Turn off the model-improvement / "help improve Claude" toggle.

Claude for Work and the Anthropic API don't train on your data. See our deep dive: does Claude store your conversations?

Gemini (Google)

On the consumer Gemini app, a subset of chats can be reviewed by humans and used to improve Google's models by default.

1. Open your Gemini settings / Activity controls.
2. Turn off "Keep Activity" (formerly Gemini Apps Activity).
3. Optionally set a shorter auto-delete window (default is 18 months).

Even with it off, chats are kept up to 72 hours, and human-reviewed chats up to 3 years. Paid API, Vertex AI, and Workspace don't train on your data. More: does Gemini read your data?

Grok (xAI)

Consumer Grok trains on your chats by default, and there's a second stream from X.

1. In the Grok app: Settings → Data Controls (or on grok.com: Settings → Data) and turn off "Improve the model."
2. If you use Grok on X: open X's privacy settings and turn off the data-sharing setting that lets your posts and Grok interactions train Grok.
3. Use Private Chat (the ghost icon) for one-off sessions.

The xAI API doesn't train on your content. More: does Grok save your chats?

Perplexity

Perplexity uses your searches to improve its AI by default and is moving toward an ad-and-tracking model.

1. Open Settings → Account → Preferences.
2. Turn off the "AI Data Retention" toggle.
3. Delete your search history periodically, and be cautious with the Comet browser and Personal Search.

The Sonar API keeps zero data retention. More: does Perplexity track you?

Meta AI (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp)

Meta trains its AI on public posts and interactions, and there is usually no simple on/off toggle.

1. In the EU, UK, or Brazil, Meta offers a built-in objection: look for an "AI at Meta" / objection option in your account settings and submit it.
2. Elsewhere (e.g. the US), submit Meta's objection form (search "Meta right to object AI" or use the contact form at facebook.com/help).
3. On Instagram, review Settings → Sharing and reuse to limit letting your content be used with AI features.

These objections apply to future use; they don't remove data already used.

Microsoft Copilot

Consumer Copilot can use your conversations for model training; the control is clear once you find it.

1. Sign in, then open your profile → Privacy (on copilot.com, in the Windows/macOS app, or in the mobile app's Account menu).
2. Turn off "Training on conversation activity" and "Training on voice conversations."

Microsoft 365 Copilot for business/enterprise does not train on your data.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn uses your profile and activity to train generative-AI features by default.

1. Go to Settings & Privacy → Data privacy → Data for Generative AI improvement.
2. Turn off "Use my data for training content-creation AI models."

To object to non-content AI uses (personalization, security), you must submit LinkedIn's Data Processing Objection Form.

GitHub Copilot

As of April 2026, GitHub trains on interaction data from Copilot Free, Pro, and Pro+ by default (prompts, outputs, code snippets, and surrounding context).

1. Open GitHub → Settings → Copilot → Features (github.com/settings/copilot/features).
2. Under Privacy, disable "Allow GitHub to use my data for AI model training."

Copilot Business and Enterprise are exempt under their contracts. Note: private-repository content "at rest" isn't used, but interaction data generated while you work can be.

Mistral Le Chat

On free/consumer Le Chat, your interactions can be used to improve Mistral's models.

1. Open your privacy settings (Admin panel / Console).
2. Disable "Allow your interactions to be used to train our models."

Le Chat Team, Enterprise, and paid API plans are excluded from training by default.

DeepSeek

DeepSeek trains on conversations by default and offers limited controls; its terms reference an "Improve the model for everyone" setting. Two cautions matter more than the toggle: your history stays on DeepSeek's servers (in China, under weaker data protections), and opting out does not remove it. For genuinely sensitive material, opting out of DeepSeek training is not a meaningful safeguard — keep that content off the platform entirely.

The Catch Every Opt-Out Shares

Even after you flip every switch above, three things remain true: your past data may already be in a training set, your conversations are still stored and can be reviewed, and you have to repeat this on every service, on every account, and again whenever a provider changes its defaults (as several did in the last year). Opting out is worth doing — but it is maintenance, not a fix.

The Stronger Move: Don't Be Identifiable in the First Place

Every opt-out on this page works on the same lever: it asks a company that knows who you are to please not learn from your content. A more durable approach flips that around — stop being identifiable, so there is nothing to learn about you in the first place. That is what Secret Chat AI is built for: it is an anonymizer and depersonalizer. Its whole design is no profile, no association, no training — it makes you unlinkable to the model providers, so you use the top models as a stranger.

• No profile of you. Registration takes an email — used only for account access and payment, never to store or associate your prompts with you — with no name, phone number, or behavioral profile built across your chats.
• No chat associated with you. Secret Chat reaches the leading models through their business APIs on your behalf, so the provider sees the gateway, not you — no identity, account, or IP attached, and on the API your prompts aren't used for training anyway.
• Nothing kept under your name. Your history lives in your browser's local storage, not a provider account, with a per-message Session Privacy Report.

This reframes the whole opt-out chore: instead of managing a training toggle on a dozen services, your requests reach the models with no identity attached, so even where a provider retains data, it is not linked to you. The one honest boundary is that Secret Chat AI is an anonymizer, not a content filter — the provider still reads your prompt to answer it, so remove names and identifiers you would not want a model to see. It removes who you are from the request, not what the request says.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Does opting out delete data already used for training?

   No. On every major platform, opting out is future-only — it stops new data being used but does not remove anything already in a training set.

2. Does opting out of training stop the platform storing my chats?

   No. Storage/retention and training are separate. Your conversations are usually still kept in your account and on the provider's servers, and can be reviewed for safety, unless you also delete them.

3. Which AI tools don't train on my data by default?

   Business and enterprise tiers and most paid APIs — including OpenAI's API, Anthropic's API and Claude for Work, Google's paid API and Workspace, the xAI API, Perplexity's Sonar API, and Mistral's paid/API plans — generally don't train on your data by default. The default-on problem is mainly a consumer one.

4. Do I have to opt out again on each device or account?

   Settings usually apply per account, so once per account is typically enough — but you must repeat it on every separate service, and re-check after providers change their defaults, which happens often.

5. Is there a way to avoid all this opt-out maintenance?

   Use a tool that never links your queries to you in the first place. Secret Chat AI reaches the top models anonymously through their APIs (which don't train on that traffic), with no profile, an email used only for billing, and history kept in your browser — so there's no per-platform training toggle to manage. It's an anonymizer, not a content filter, so still keep identifiers out of prompts.

Conclusion

Opting out of AI training is worth doing on every platform you use — flip the toggles above, and you stop the biggest, most avoidable form of data reuse. Just keep the limits in mind: it's future-only, it doesn't delete your history or stop retention, and it's an ongoing chore across a dozen services that keep changing their defaults. If you would rather not play that game at all, the stronger move is to stop being identifiable in the first place: use the leading models anonymously, with no profile and nothing tied to your name.

Sources

• OpenAI — Data Controls FAQ
• Anthropic — Updates to Consumer Terms and Privacy Policy
• Google — Gemini Apps Privacy Hub
• xAI — Privacy Policy
• Perplexity — Data Collection
• Microsoft — Copilot privacy controls
• LinkedIn — Generative AI FAQs
• Mistral — Can I opt out of training?