# OpenAI offers new privacy protection in “Zero Data Retention” for its AI. Is this the “Do Not Track” for AI? > Source: > Published: 2026-08-20 15:59:07+00:00 **In stiff competition with Anthropic, OpenAI is trying to distinguish itself from its competitor.** **Sam Altman just announced a “Zero Data Retention” privacy protection for eligible API customers**: “OpenAI does not retain their prompts or model responses after a request is processed. Customer content is not available to OpenAI personnel for review 1, and enterprise customer data is not used to train our models unless customers explicitly opt-in.” - Like other frontier model providers, OpenAI is [required by law(opens in a new window)](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=%28title%3A18+section%3A2258A+edition%3Aprelim%29)to report apparent child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Images flagged for potential CSAM will continue to be retained for manual review and reporting purposes, even in Zero Data Retention deployments, as they are today. **From OpenAI’s announcement: ** ##### How Private Safety Processing works Private Safety Processing builds on the automated protections already used in ZDR and other deployments. Existing ZDR-compatible safety systems evaluate interactions individually. Private Safety Processing extends those protections across related interactions, allowing automated systems to identify patterns without OpenAI personnel having access to retained customer content. Private Safety Processing utilizes customer content regardless of where it is stored—whether in infrastructure customers control (ZDR deployments) or in storage provided by OpenAI. With OpenAI-provided storage, customer content is encrypted using keys controlled by the customer. OpenAI personnel do not have a copy of those keys, so they cannot access the underlying content. When a risk is identified, OpenAI receives a narrowly defined signal indicating the type of activity involved, similar to our existing safety systems today. That signal can be used to determine whether enforcement is necessary. OpenAI personnel do not receive access to the customer content even when it is flagged. Customers can investigate alerts and enforcement decisions using information available in their own systems. If they want to appeal, clarify legitimate activity, or support an investigation into verified abuse, they can choose to share relevant information with OpenAI. Private Safety Processing is currently being tested with early customers. We are sharing this preview now because we’ve heard our customers loud and clear that they need predictability about how their content will be protected as AI systems become more capable.