All major AI companies including OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Anthropic and X use consumer conversations to train their models by default, though users can opt out of this practice within each platform's settings. The process typically takes about a minute per service and allows users to prevent their future conversations from being used for training purposes, though this does not retroactively prevent use of existing chats or delete previously collected data. Meta stands as a notable exception in the United States, offering no opt-out option and actively using Meta AI conversations for advertising targeting since December 2024, whilst users in the UK and EU have protection under GDPR regulations.

Each platform provides a straightforward toggle to disable training: OpenAI's option is labelled "Improve the model for everyone" under Settings and Data Controls; Anthropic's Claude setting is located under Settings and Privacy; Google's control has been renamed to "Keep Activity"; Microsoft maintains two separate toggles under Settings and Privacy; and X enrolls all accounts in Grok training through a toggle in Privacy and safety settings. Importantly, opting out only prevents future data use and does not apply to conversations already collected, with some platforms retaining chat histories for extended periods even after deletion (Google retains chats accessed by human reviewers for up to three years, whilst Anthropic keeps data for up to five years if training is enabled).