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Zero data retention AI: what it means, who offers it, and what it does not cover

October 23, 2026

Zero data retention (ZDR) means the AI provider does not store your prompts or the model's replies after the request is served: nothing is logged for training, debugging or review. It is a real thing, but mostly an enterprise API term: OpenAI, Anthropic and Google offer it to business customers under contract, and some API routers let you route only to providers that honour it. Consumer chat apps are the opposite by default; they keep history so you can scroll back. Privacy proxies such as Duck.ai and Brave Leo sit in between: they hide who you are, and the provider discards the text on a short clock. nixm is time-boxed rather than zero: no transcript is kept, a distilled log lives with the signal for seven days, then everything dissolves.

What "zero data retention" means, precisely

A model has to see your words to answer. Zero data retention is a promise about the moment after: the provider processes the request, returns the answer, and keeps nothing. No copy of the prompt, no copy of the reply, no log that a human could later read or a training run could later ingest. Under a ZDR arrangement, even the provider's own abuse monitoring is limited or handled differently, which is why it is usually granted only to vetted business customers. The phrase comes from API contracts and is now appearing in consumer marketing, often loosely. When you see it, ask two questions: retained by whom, and for how long.

Who actually offers it

  • Enterprise API agreements. The large labs offer zero retention to business customers on request, typically after a review, and it applies to API traffic, not to their consumer chat apps. If your company builds on a model and the contract says ZDR, your users' prompts are not stored by the lab.
  • API routers. Services that sit in front of many models often let you restrict requests to providers that commit to no retention, and label which ones do. Useful if you are a developer; irrelevant if you are typing into an app.
  • Privacy proxies. Duck.ai (DuckDuckGo) and Brave Leo send your message to a model provider without your identity attached, and the provider agrees to discard it on a short clock rather than keep it. That is anonymised, short retention, which is close to zero in practice but not the same as a signed ZDR contract. The Duck.ai page walks through the specifics.
  • Local models. Run the model on your own machine and there is no provider to retain anything. The only true zero, at the cost of quality and speed.

What it does not cover

ZDR is about the model provider. It says nothing about the app you are typing into. A chat app can be built on a ZDR API and still save every conversation in its own database, because that is where the history sidebar comes from. So the full question has three parts: does the app keep my words, does the model provider keep my words, and does anyone train on them. Most consumer products answer yes, yes (for a while), and yes-unless-you-opt-out. The retention table tracks the big ones.

How to read a privacy policy for the clock

  1. Find the sentence about how long conversations are kept. Words to search for: retain, retention, delete, 30 days, deleted chats.
  2. Find the training sentence and its default. "May be used to improve our services" with an opt-out means on by default.
  3. Find the exceptions: legal holds, safety review, abuse monitoring. Every provider has them; the question is how long and how narrow.
  4. Find who else sees it: the model provider, sub-processors, human reviewers.

If the policy is silent on any of the four, assume the least private answer.

What nixm keeps, honestly

nixm is not zero retention and does not claim to be. It is built to keep as little as possible for as short a time as possible: no transcript of what you type is kept, so there is no history to scroll, leak or subpoena. Each session distills to a small log of decisions that stays with the signal so the conversation can continue; after seven days the signal dissolves and takes that log and any uploaded images with it. You can start without an account. If you need a signed zero-retention guarantee, that is an enterprise API conversation with a lab; if you want a product that forgets by design on a clock you can see, that is what this is. The most private AI chatbot page puts the options side by side.

The short version

  • ZDR = the provider keeps nothing after answering. Real, but mostly for businesses on API contracts.
  • Privacy proxies get you anonymised, short retention. Good for everyday questions.
  • Local models are the only literal zero.
  • Any app can undo all of it by saving your history itself. Check the app, not just the model.

frequently asked

What does zero data retention mean in AI?

The provider does not store your prompts or the replies after the request is served, so nothing is kept for training, debugging or human review. It is mainly an enterprise API term.

Does ChatGPT have zero data retention?

Not in the consumer app, which stores history by default. OpenAI offers zero retention to business API customers under agreement, which does not apply to chatgpt.com users.

Is Duck.ai zero data retention?

Close in practice but not the same: it anonymises your request and the model provider discards it on a short clock, rather than a contractual promise to keep nothing.

What is the most private way to use AI?

Run a model locally for true zero retention. Otherwise use a privacy proxy for everyday questions, or a product that keeps no transcript and dissolves sessions on a fixed clock.

Does nixm have zero data retention?

No, and it does not claim to. No transcript of what you type is kept; a distilled log stays with the signal for seven days, then everything dissolves.

Can an app keep my chats even if the model provider does not?

Yes. Retention by the model provider and retention by the app are separate. Most chat apps store history themselves regardless of the API terms behind them.

ask anything. nothing is kept.

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ask anything. nothing is kept.

no account, no transcript kept. even the signal dissolves in seven days.

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