AI21 keeps your personal data for as long as it needs to in order to run its services or comply with the law, but does not specify exact timeframes. The length of time your data is kept depends on what kind of data it is and why it was collected.
This analysis describes what AI21 Labs's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
Without specific retention periods stated in the policy, users cannot easily determine how long their prompt data, account information, or behavioral data will be stored, which limits their ability to manage their own data lifecycle.
AI21's data retention policy uses open-ended language tied to business necessity and legal requirements rather than specifying fixed retention periods for different data categories such as prompts, account data, or usage logs. Users who want data deleted before the end of AI21's retention period must proactively submit a deletion request.
How other platforms handle this
We retain personal information for as long as necessary to provide our services, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. The specific retention periods depend on the type of information and the purposes for which it is processed.
We keep information for as long as we need it to provide our products, comply with legal obligations, or for other legitimate purposes, such as to maintain safety, security, and integrity.
After your account is deleted, we keep data about interactions you've had on our service to prevent abuse, ban evaders and others in an effort to protect and ensure the safety and security of our service and our members.
Monitoring
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"We retain personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements, or for as long as required by applicable law. When determining the appropriate retention period, we take into account the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure, the purposes for which we process the personal data, and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means.— Excerpt from AI21 Labs's AI21 Labs Privacy Policy
REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: This provision engages GDPR Article 5(1)(e), which requires that personal data be kept in a form that permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the data is processed (storage limitation principle). CCPA and CPRA do not impose specific retention limits but require that retention practices be disclosed. UK GDPR imposes equivalent storage limitation obligations. GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: Medium. The policy's use of open-ended retention language ('as long as necessary') without specifying retention schedules for key data categories (prompts, account data, usage logs, advertising data) is below the specificity recommended by EU data protection authorities, which have encouraged organizations to publish retention schedules by data category. The absence of specific timeframes makes it difficult for users or auditors to assess compliance with storage limitation principles. JURISDICTION FLAGS: EU and EEA supervisory authorities have indicated that retention policies should specify periods or criteria for each data category rather than relying solely on generic necessity language. UK ICO guidance aligns with this approach. California's CPRA requires that businesses disclose retention periods or criteria for each category of personal information collected, which may create a specific compliance gap if AI21's CPRA-specific disclosures do not supplement the general policy language. CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: Enterprise DPAs should specify retention periods applicable to customer data processed through the API, including deletion timelines upon contract termination. Procurement teams should not rely on the general privacy policy's open-ended retention language for contractual data lifecycle management. Audit rights related to data deletion confirmation should be included in enterprise agreements. COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Legal teams should request AI21's internal data retention schedule to assess whether specific periods are defined for each data category even if not publicly disclosed. CPRA compliance may require AI21 to publish category-specific retention periods in its California-specific privacy disclosures. Organizations should confirm that deletion requests submitted to privacy@ai21.com result in deletion across all systems, including backup and model training datasets.
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Without specific retention periods stated in the policy, users cannot easily determine how long their prompt data, account information, or behavioral data will be stored, which limits their ability to manage their own data lifecycle.
AI21's data retention policy uses open-ended language tied to business necessity and legal requirements rather than specifying fixed retention periods for different data categories such as prompts, account data, or usage logs. Users who want data deleted before the end of AI21's retention period must proactively submit a deletion request.
ConductAtlas has identified this type of provision across 136 platforms. See the full comparison.
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