Is Character.AI safe with your data?

Character.AI

Character Technologies

34/100

Poor disclosure · high confidence

Character.AI earns an F (34/100) because it discloses little about its data practices.

Dealbreaker flag

D1.1: Analyze, maintain, improve, modify, customize, and measure the Services, including to train our artificial intelligence/machine learning models
D1.4: you grant Character.AI ... a nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, fully paid up, transferable, sublicensable, perpetual, irrevocable license to ... exploit, commercialize and otherwise use the Character and all Generated Content for any purpose

#175

of 216 apps ranked

score · Companion avg 41

-7

vs category average

Grade scaleA · 70–100B · 60–69C · 48–59D · 35–47F · 0–34

Character.AI trains its models on user chats with no opt-out named, takes a perpetual sublicensable licence over the Characters and content users create, and reserves the right to keep a popular Character alive even after the user deletes their account and data.

What Character.AI's privacy policy and terms of service say about your data

Chats feed model training

The policy lists training its artificial intelligence and machine learning models among the uses of collected information, and names no way to opt out.

Perpetual licence over what you create

Users keep ownership of their Characters and generated content, but grant a worldwide, sublicensable, perpetual, irrevocable licence to commercialize and otherwise use it for any purpose.

Deletion does not always mean deletion

If a Character has been shared with other users, the company reserves the right to keep it active even after the creator deletes their data and account.

No retention period, no security specifics

Information is kept for "the time necessary" with no number attached, and the policy names no encryption, access control, or breach notification timeframe.

What the policy is silent or vague on

Not stated: keeping user inputs out of model training
Not stated: a way to opt out of training
Not stated: whether training use differs by plan
Not stated: your ownership of generated outputs

Character.AI privacy rating

Training-data use0 of 4 disclosed

Keeps user inputs out of model training, or makes training opt-inSilent

Names a way to opt out of or into trainingSilent

Says whether training use differs by plan or tierSilent

Lets the user keep ownership of generated outputsSilent

Data-subject rights2 of 5 disclosed

Grants a right to access your dataPartial

Grants a right to delete your dataDisclosed

Offers data portability in a usable formatPartial

Grants a right to correct your dataDisclosed

Grants a way to object to or opt out of processingPartial

Retention and deletion0 of 4 disclosed

States a retention period for your dataPartial

States a deletion timeline after closure or requestSilent

Sets a shorter retention for AI conversation logsSilent

Commits to collecting only the data it needsPartial

Third-party sharing1 of 5 disclosed

Lists the categories of third parties it shares withDisclosed

References a sub-processor list or data processing agreementSilent

Does not sell or share data for advertising, or offers opt-outSilent

Names a safeguard for international data transfersSilent

States a standard for government and law-enforcement accessPartial

Transparency2 of 4 disclosed

Discloses that you are interacting with AIDisclosed

Marks AI-generated or synthetic outputNot applicable

Enumerates the categories of data it collectsDisclosed

Maps processing purposes to legal basesSilent

Is versioned and dated, with change noticePartial

Sensitive data and children0 of 2 disclosed

Discloses automated decisions and a human-review pathNot applicable

Limits the use of special-category dataPartial

Governs biometric data specificallyNot applicable

States protections for children's dataPartial

Security and accountability0 of 3 disclosed

Describes its security safeguardsSilent

Commits to breach notificationSilent

Names a certification or a privacy contactPartial

DisclosedPartialSilentAdverseNot applicable

Details

Category: Companion
Modalities: text
Processes biometrics: No
Policy last updated: 2026-07-01
Region scored: Global / US-default
Last assessed: 2026-10-13

Documents examined

Other companion apps

Each grade reflects our analysis of what an app states in its public privacy policy and terms as of the assessment date. It measures the transparency of those documents, not the company's actual data practices, security, or compliance. Grades are our opinion, offered for general information. Full disclaimer.