Anthropic Revises Enterprise Data Retention Policy After Customer Pushback

Anthropic is changing a data retention policy for business customers following concerns from enterprise users about how their information would be stored and reviewed.

The company announced Tuesday (Sept. 1) it is introducing Enterprise Frontier Safeguards, a system that will give businesses greater control over how their data is reviewed, stored and managed. Anthropic said the system will also allow companies to conduct automated safety monitoring without requiring human review by Anthropic.

Anthropic introduced its existing retention policy in June alongside the launch of Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5, two of its most advanced artificial intelligence models. The policy requires 30-day retention of traffic on those models to help the company defend against misuse and what it described at the time as “complex and novel” cyberattacks.

Anthropic said it would not use the retained information for purposes unrelated to safety, including training its models. The policy nevertheless drew concerns from some enterprise customers.

Kate Jensen, Anthropic’s head of Americas, told CNBC that the company spent hundreds of hours working with customers to develop an alternative.

Under Enterprise Frontier Safeguards, businesses will be able to keep greater control over their data while Anthropic performs the safety scanning it considers necessary. Jensen told CNBC that the approach allows Anthropic to conduct the monitoring without requiring customers to compromise their existing privacy practices.

Anthropic said it will not charge customers for Enterprise Frontier Safeguards. The controls will be available whether businesses access Anthropic’s technology directly or through a cloud provider.

Enterprise customers are particularly important to Anthropic because the company generates most of its revenue from businesses, according to CNBC. The policy change comes as Anthropic prepares for an expected initial public offering and competes with rivals in the market for advanced AI models.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei previewed Enterprise Frontier Safeguards in an interview with CNBC last week. He said the system is intended to help keep Salesforce customer data private while allowing Anthropic to maintain safeguards around its models.

Enterprise Frontier Safeguards will roll out in phases, with Anthropic targeting broader availability this fall.