Anthropic—Changed privacy policy from privacy-first to opt-out data collection model with 5-year retention
Anthropic reversed privacy stance, shifting from not using consumer conversations for training to opt-out model. Extended data retention to 5 years (from 30 days - 6,000% increase). Pop-up presented 'Accept' button prominently with opt-out toggle set to 'On' by default in smaller print. Mandatory deadline (Sept 28, later extended to Oct 8) forced immediate decisions.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| User Autonomy | -against | secondary | -0.50 |
| User Privacy | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.664 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.59)
Evidence (1 signal)
Anthropic announced shift from opt-in to opt-out data collection for AI training with 5-year retention
Anthropic announced August 28, 2025 that it would use consumer chat data for model training by default (opt-out), reversing previous privacy-first stance. Extended data retention from 30 days to 5 years for users who don't opt out. Pop-up presented 'Accept' button prominently with opt-out toggle pre-checked to 'On' in smaller print. Existing users given until October 8 to decide.