Overview

• Training-by-default applies to consumer tiers including Claude Free, Pro, Max and Claude Code, while Claude for Work, Gov, Education and API usage are excluded.
• Users who allow training will have relevant data retained for up to five years, a change from the prior 30‑day deletion practice for consumer chats.
• Existing users are seeing an ‘Updates to Consumer Terms and Policies’ prompt with a prominent Accept button and a smaller training toggle preset to On, raising consent-design concerns reported by tech outlets.
• Users must set a preference by September 28 or be treated as consenting for future chats, and they can later change the setting in Privacy Settings, which applies only to new conversations; the company says it filters or obfuscates sensitive data and does not sell it.
• Anthropic links the shift to strengthening safety systems after reporting that an attacker used Claude Code to automate reconnaissance, harvest credentials and facilitate targeted extortion, arguing longer retention helps train misuse detectors.