Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteAI assistants may process more than the words you type. Depending on the service and features you use, they may handle your prompts and files, generate and log responses, and receive context from your device, location, browser, or connected apps. Providers say they use data to answer requests, operate and improve services, personalize responses, and protect users. What is collected, retained, or used to improve models depends on the provider, account type, settings, region, and app version.
What data can an AI assistant collect?
There is no universal data list for every assistant. A text-only exchange may involve less context than a voice conversation, image upload, screen-sharing session, or interaction with a connected app. Official disclosures from OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and Microsoft describe several broad categories.
Information you submit
- Prompts and conversation content: what you ask, follow-up messages, and, depending on the service, the assistant’s responses.
- Attachments and media: files, photos, videos, or other content you choose to upload. Google’s Gemini notice also lists browser-page content, imported chats, and instructions from customization features.
- Voice and feedback: voice interactions may involve transcripts or recordings, while ratings or other feedback can include information about the conversation.
Google’s Gemini disclosure lists prompts, files, videos, photos, browser-page content, imported chats, Gemini Live transcripts and recordings, and customization instructions. These are examples of inputs tied to features—not evidence that every assistant collects all of them in every session.
Information created or observed during use
Some services also process generated responses and technical or usage data, such as app, browser, and device information; interaction logs; performance measurements; and crash or debugging information. Google’s Gemini notice additionally describes system permissions, some device context, connected-app context, and location information. Which of these applies depends on the service and the features or permissions in use.
#1 Best Overall
- Your favorite music and content – Play music, audiobooks, and podcasts from Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify and others or via Bluetooth throughout your home.
- Alexa is happy to help – Ask Alexa for weather updates and to set hands-free timers, get answers to your questions and even hear jokes. Need a few extra minutes in the morning? Just tap your Echo Dot to snooze your alarm.
- Keep your home comfortable – Control compatible smart home devices with your voice and routines triggered by built-in motion or indoor temperature sensors. Create routines to automatically turn on lights when you walk into a room, or start a fan if the inside temperature goes above your comfort zone.
- Do more with device pairing – Fill your home with music using compatible Echo devices in different rooms, or create a home theatre system with Fire TV.
- Say goodbye to drop-offs and buffering - With eero Built-in, Echo Dot doubles as a mesh wifi extender, adding up to 1,000 sq. ft. of wifi coverage to your existing eero network.
Location is a Google-specific example, not a general rule for AI assistants. Google says Gemini may use location to make responses more relevant. Its notice distinguishes precise device location, which requires permission, from a general area that may be inferred from an IP address or account addresses; location stored with Gemini activity is coarsened to a general area.
How providers say they use the data
Providers describe several purposes. The same information may be handled for more than one purpose, and a model-training setting does not necessarily control all of them.
Rank #2
- Your favorite music and content – Play music, audiobooks, and podcasts from Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify and others or via Bluetooth throughout your home.
- Alexa is happy to help – Ask Alexa for weather updates and to set hands-free timers, get answers to your questions and even hear jokes. Need a few extra minutes in the morning? Just tap your Echo Dot to snooze your alarm.
- Keep your home comfortable – Control compatible smart home devices with your voice and routines triggered by built-in motion or indoor temperature sensors. Create routines to automatically turn on lights when you walk into a room, or start a fan if the inside temperature goes above your comfort zone.
- Do more with device pairing – Fill your home with music using compatible Echo devices in different rooms, or create a home theatre system with Fire TV.
- Say goodbye to drop-offs and buffering - With eero Built-in, Echo Dot doubles as a mesh wifi extender, adding up to 1,000 sq. ft. of wifi coverage to your existing eero network.
- Responding and running the service: processing the request, maintaining the product, and measuring whether features perform properly.
- Personalization and development: tailoring or customizing responses and developing or improving services. Whether consumer conversations may be used to improve models depends on the provider’s rules and the user’s settings or choices.
- Safety and security: detecting misuse, investigating safety or security issues, and protecting users, the provider, or the public. Some disclosures describe human review in certain circumstances.
- Support and legal needs: limited access to content may occur for customer support or legal matters, according to provider disclosures.
These are purposes providers state in their policies; they should not be read as an independent audit of how every conversation is handled internally.
Model training, chat history, and safety are separate controls
Turning off model improvement does not necessarily stop an assistant from processing a conversation to answer you, remove it from chat history, disable memory, or eliminate safety-related handling. Check each control separately.
Rank #3
- Your favorite music and content – Play music, audiobooks, and podcasts from Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify and others or via Bluetooth throughout your home.
- Alexa is happy to help – Ask Alexa for weather updates and to set hands-free timers, get answers to your questions and even hear jokes. Need a few extra minutes in the morning? Just tap your Echo Dot to snooze your alarm.
- Keep your home comfortable – Control compatible smart home devices with your voice and routines triggered by built-in motion or indoor temperature sensors. Create routines to automatically turn on lights when you walk into a room, or start a fan if the inside temperature goes above your comfort zone.
- Do more with device pairing – Fill your home with music using compatible Echo devices in different rooms, or create a home theatre system with Fire TV.
- Say goodbye to drop-offs and buffering - With eero Built-in, Echo Dot doubles as a mesh wifi extender, adding up to 1,000 sq. ft. of wifi coverage to your existing eero network.
ChatGPT
OpenAI says that when Improve the model for everyone is off, new conversations are not used to train OpenAI models; saved chats remain in history. Temporary Chats do not appear in history, update memories, or improve models, but OpenAI says they may be retained for up to 30 days for safety.
Gemini
Google says that with Gemini Apps Activity off, chats are still used to respond and help protect users, including through human reviewers. Activity settings therefore do not mean that the service stops processing a chat for the immediate interaction or safety purposes.
Rank #4
- Meet Echo Dot Max: Experience rich room-filling sound that automatically adapts to your space and fine-tunes playback. Features a built-in smart home hub and Omnisense technology for highly personalized experiences.
- Music to your ears: With nearly 3x the bass versus Echo Dot (2022 release), it fits beautifully in any space, delivering your personal sound stage with deep bass and enhanced clarity. Listen to streaming services, such as Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, and SiriusXM. Encore!
- Do more with device pairing: Connect compatible Echo smart speakers and smart displays in different rooms, or pair with a second Echo Dot Max to enjoy even richer sound. Pair your Echo Dot Max with compatible Fire TV devices to create a home theater system that brings scenes to life.
- Simple smart home control: Set routines, pair and control lights, locks, and thousands of smart home devices that work with Alexa without needing a separate smart home hub. With Omnisense technology, you can activate routines via temperature or presence detection.
- Say goodbye to drop-offs and buffering - With eero Built-in, Echo Dot Max doubles as a mesh wifi extender, adding up to 1,000 sq. ft. of wifi coverage to your existing eero network.
Claude
Anthropic says consumer chats and coding sessions may be used for model improvement if the user allows it, if conversations are flagged for safety review, or through another explicit opt-in. Anthropic says Incognito chats are not used to improve Claude, even when Model Improvement is enabled.
Microsoft Copilot
For the updated Microsoft Copilot app for individuals, Microsoft says prompts, responses, and file contents are not used to train foundation models. Optional feedback may be used to improve Copilot, but not to train those foundation models. Microsoft’s older-app guidance should not be assumed to describe the updated app; work or school accounts and Microsoft 365 contexts are also outside some individual-consumer guidance.
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- Alexa can show you more - Echo Show 5 includes a 5.5” display so you can see news and weather at a glance, make video calls, view compatible cameras, stream music and shows, and more.
- Small size, bigger sound – Stream your favorite music, shows, podcasts, and more from providers like Amazon Music, Spotify, and Prime Video—now with deeper bass and clearer vocals. Includes a 5.5" display so you can view shows, song titles, and more at a glance.
- Keep your home comfortable – Control compatible smart devices like lights and thermostats, even while you're away.
- See more with the built-in camera – Check in on your family, pets, and more using the built-in camera. Drop in on your home when you're out or view the front door from your Echo Show 5 with compatible video doorbells.
- See your photos on display – When not in use, set the background to a rotating slideshow of your favorite photos. Invite family and friends to share photos to your Echo Show. Prime members also get unlimited cloud photo storage.
How long can data be retained?
Retention depends on the type of data and the feature or account involved. These provider-specific examples are not market averages or promises that every user’s data follows the same period.
| Provider and data type | Policy period or choice | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| OpenAI: ChatGPT Temporary Chat | Up to 30 days | OpenAI says Temporary Chats may be kept for safety. This is not a general retention period for all ChatGPT data. |
| Google: Gemini Apps Activity | 3 months, 18 months by default, 36 months, or indefinite | Auto-delete choices described by Google in 2026 for Gemini Apps Activity. |
| Google: chats and related data reviewed by human reviewers | Up to 3 years | Google says deleting Gemini activity does not delete this reviewer-held data. |
| Anthropic: consumer feedback | Up to 5 years | Anthropic says feedback retention can include the entire related conversation. |
These figures come from the providers’ 2026 disclosures and apply to the named data or setting, not every conversation or account. Deleting a visible chat or activity record may not delete every copy held for another stated purpose.
Consumer apps, work accounts, and APIs can have different rules
Do not assume that settings in a personal assistant app also govern a workplace deployment or developer API. Contracts, administrator controls, eligibility, and product-specific terms can change the applicable rules.
- OpenAI: Business, Enterprise, Edu, and Healthcare workspace content is not used for model training by default, though organizational access and retention settings still matter. OpenAI says API inputs are not used for training by default; abuse-monitoring logs may contain prompts and responses and are retained for up to 30 days by default, subject to exceptions. Eligible approved customers may have other controls.
- Anthropic: Commercial product inputs and outputs are not used for training by default, though feedback or explicit permission may allow use. Its commercial and API rules differ from Claude Free, Pro, and Max consumer rules; zero-data-retention arrangements have eligibility and feature limitations.
- Microsoft: Consumer-app disclosures should not be applied automatically to work or school Entra ID accounts or Microsoft 365 contexts, which Microsoft excludes from some individual-user guidance.
How to check what applies to your account
- Identify the product and account: note the exact assistant, app version, region, and whether you are using a personal, work or school, or API account.
- Review controls individually: check model-improvement or training settings separately from history, activity, memory, and temporary or incognito modes.
- Check feature permissions: before enabling voice, camera, location, screen, browser, or connected-app features, review the permissions and context they can expose.
- Read the deletion terms: determine whether deletion covers history, activity, reviewer-held material, connected-service records, and backups, or only some of them.
- For work data, check organization rules: consult the applicable contract, administrator settings, and retention policy instead of relying on consumer-app controls.
- Limit sensitive submissions: avoid sharing credentials, confidential material, or sensitive personal data unless the relevant service and account terms have been reviewed and the disclosure is appropriate. OpenAI and Google caution users about submitting sensitive or confidential information.
For a meaningful comparison between assistants, compare the same things for each service: submitted content, feature-dependent context, stated purposes, training and history controls, retention and deletion rules, and the precise account and version those rules cover. Disclosures vary, so examples from OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and Microsoft do not establish the practices of every AI assistant.
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