Category: AI Tools & Tutorials

Quick answer: open ChatGPT, go to Settings > Data controls and switch off Improve the model for everyone. New conversations will no longer be used to train OpenAI’s models. The setting is tied to your account, so it applies on every device you sign in to.

By default, conversations in personal ChatGPT accounts can be used to help train and improve OpenAI’s models. For most casual use that may not bother you. For a business that pastes in draft contracts, client emails, pricing or staff information, it’s worth switching off, and it only takes a minute.

This guide shows where the setting is on each device, what it actually changes, what it doesn’t, and the other tools you have, such as Temporary Chat, data export and business plans. It’s based on OpenAI’s help centre, checked in October 2026.

How to turn off training on the web

Why this matters for a small business

Think about what actually goes into ChatGPT in a typical week. A café owner asks it to reply to a complaint and pastes in the customer’s email. An accountant asks for help wording a letter about a client’s tax position. A recruiter pastes in a CV to draft interview questions. None of that is unusual, and none of it is information you’d want used beyond the task in hand. Switching off training doesn’t make careless use safe, but it removes one route by which your content leaves your control, at no cost and with no loss of features.

1. Sign in at chatgpt.com.
2. Click your profile icon in the bottom-left corner and choose Settings.
3. Open Data controls.
4. Switch off Improve the model for everyone.

If you use ChatGPT without signing in, the setting is still available: click the question mark icon in the bottom-right corner, then Settings > Data controls.

How to turn off training on iPhone

1. Open the ChatGPT app.
2. Tap the three dots in the top-right corner, then Settings.
3. Tap Data controls.
4. Switch off Improve the model for everyone.

How to turn off training on Android

1. Open the ChatGPT app.
2. Tap the menu in the top-left corner, then Settings.
3. Tap Data controls.
4. Switch off Improve the model for everyone.

Because the setting is stored on your account, changing it in one place changes it everywhere. If you have more than one ChatGPT account, for example a personal one and a work one, you need to change it on each.

What the setting changes, and what it doesn’t

With training switched off	Still true
New conversations are not used to train OpenAI’s models	Your chats still appear in your history
Applies across all your devices	Chats from before you changed it may already have been used
You keep all ChatGPT features	OpenAI can still review chats to check for abuse
No extra cost	Memory works separately and may still save details

The important point is that this is about training, not storage. Your conversations are still saved to your account until you delete them. If you also want to remove them, see how to delete ChatGPT history, chats and memory.

Use Temporary Chat for sensitive questions

Temporary Chat is the closest thing to an incognito mode. Start one from the top of a new chat. Temporary chats don’t appear in your history, don’t create memories and aren’t used for training. OpenAI keeps them for up to 30 days so it can check for abuse, then deletes them. It’s a good habit for anything involving a named customer, an employee or a supplier dispute.

Business plans and the API

If several people in your business use ChatGPT for work, a business plan is worth considering. OpenAI’s business products, including its workspace plans and its API, are not used for training by default, and the account owner controls settings for everyone. That avoids relying on each person remembering to switch the toggle off, and keeps work chats separate from personal accounts.

If you’re comparing costs, our guide to ChatGPT pricing in the UK sets out the plans. If you build your own tools on the OpenAI API, data sent through the API is handled under OpenAI’s business terms rather than the consumer settings described here.

Export your data first

If you want a copy of everything before you start cleaning up, go to Settings > Data controls > Export data and confirm. OpenAI emails you a link to a .zip file containing your chat history as a readable chat.html page and your other stored data. The link expires after 24 hours.

What about UK GDPR?

If you put other people’s personal data into ChatGPT, you’re responsible for having a lawful reason to do so and for keeping it to a minimum. Switching off training reduces how that data is used, but it doesn’t make it acceptable to paste in anything at all. The safest approach is to remove names and identifying details before you paste. OpenAI also runs a privacy portal where you can make data requests, such as asking for a copy of your data or objecting to the use of your content for training. Our guide to AI tools and UK GDPR covers the basics.

A two-minute privacy checklist

• Switch off Improve the model for everyone on every account you use for work.
• Use Temporary Chat for anything involving personal data.
• Review memory in Settings > Personalization and delete anything sensitive.
• Delete old chats you no longer need.
• Move team use onto a business plan where the owner controls settings.
• Agree a short written rule for staff on what never goes into AI tools.

How other AI tools compare

Setting up staff accounts

If staff use their own personal ChatGPT accounts for work, you can’t easily check their settings. Ask them to switch training off and to use Temporary Chat for anything involving customers, and write that into a short AI use policy. For more than two or three regular users, a workspace plan is usually simpler: everyone has their own login, chats are kept separate, and the owner sets the rules once.

What OpenAI can still see

Switching off training doesn’t hide your conversations from OpenAI entirely. Chats are still stored on its systems while they’re in your history, and OpenAI may review conversations to investigate abuse or comply with the law. Deleted chats are removed within 30 days, with some exceptions. If you need stronger guarantees, such as contractual data processing terms, those come with business plans rather than personal accounts.

How to check the setting is off

Open Settings > Data controls on any device signed in to your account. The toggle for Improve the model for everyone should be off. If you’ve just changed it on your phone, refresh the web page and check it there too. It’s worth checking again after major app updates.

Common misunderstandings

• “Turning off training deletes my data.” It doesn’t. It only stops new chats being used for training.
• “Temporary Chat is completely private.” It isn’t saved to your history, but OpenAI keeps it for up to 30 days to check for abuse.
• “Paid plans are never used for training.” Personal paid plans use the same toggle as free accounts. It’s business products that are excluded by default.
• “If I delete a chat, ChatGPT forgets it.” Saved memories are separate and need deleting on their own.

Most mainstream assistants now have a similar control, though the names differ. Google Gemini ties history to Gemini Apps Activity in your Google account, and turning off Keep Activity stops new chats being saved for most purposes; see how to delete Gemini chats. Anthropic’s Claude has its own privacy settings, and its business plans are not used for training by default. Whichever tool you use, check its data settings when you first set it up, and again after major updates, because defaults sometimes change.

Frequently asked questions

Does ChatGPT use my chats to train its models?

For personal accounts, it can unless you switch off Improve the model for everyone in Settings > Data controls.

Will turning off training delete my chat history?

No. Your chats stay in your history. Delete them separately if you want them gone.

Does the setting apply to past chats?

It applies to new conversations. Chats from before you changed it may already have been used.

Is Temporary Chat used for training?

No. Temporary chats aren’t used for training and are deleted within 30 days.

Are ChatGPT business plans used for training?

OpenAI says its business products are not used for training by default.

Do I need to change the setting on my phone too?

No. It’s tied to your account and syncs across devices.

Sources

• OpenAI Help: Data controls FAQ
• OpenAI Help: How to delete and archive chats
• OpenAI Help: Exporting your ChatGPT history and data
• OpenAI: Enterprise privacy

Related guides

• How to delete ChatGPT history, chats and memory
• AI tools and UK GDPR
• ChatGPT pricing in the UK
• Claude vs ChatGPT

Quick answer: to delete a single ChatGPT chat, hover over it in the sidebar, click the three dots and choose Delete. To delete everything, go to Settings > Data controls > Delete all chats. Deleting chats does not delete what ChatGPT has remembered about you, so also open Settings > Personalization and delete your saved memories.

ChatGPT keeps every conversation you have unless you remove it. For a small business that’s a mixed blessing. It’s handy to pick up a half-finished draft, but your history may also hold customer names, pricing, staff issues or ideas you’d rather not leave lying around, especially on a shared laptop or a team account.

This guide covers the three different things people mean by “ChatGPT history”: the list of chats in the sidebar, the memories ChatGPT builds up about you, and the copies OpenAI keeps for a short time after you delete. The steps are based on OpenAI’s help centre, checked in October 2026. Menus move around from time to time, so if a label looks slightly different on your screen, look for the nearest match.

Chats, archive and memory: what’s the difference?

What	Where it lives	How to remove it
Chat history	The sidebar list of conversations	Delete one chat, or Settings > Data controls > Delete all chats
Archived chats	Hidden from the sidebar but still in your account	Settings > Data controls > Archived chats > Manage
Saved memories	Facts ChatGPT has saved about you	Settings > Personalization > Manage memories
Chat history reference	What ChatGPT picks up from past chats	Turn off “Reference chat history” in Personalization

Archiving is not deleting. An archived chat disappears from the sidebar but stays in your account, and you can bring it back. If your aim is privacy, delete rather than archive.

How to delete a single ChatGPT chat

On a computer (chatgpt.com or the desktop app)

1. Open the sidebar on the left so you can see your chats.
2. Hover over the chat you want to remove.
3. Click the three dots next to its title.
4. Choose Delete, then confirm.

On iPhone or Android

1. Open the ChatGPT app and open the sidebar.
2. Press and hold the chat you want to remove.
3. Tap Delete and confirm.

The chat disappears from your history straight away. OpenAI says deleted chats are permanently removed from its systems within 30 days, unless they have already been de-identified, or it has to keep them for security or legal reasons. You can’t get a deleted chat back, so copy anything useful first.

How to delete all ChatGPT chats at once

1. Click your profile picture or name, then Settings.
2. Open Data controls.
3. Choose Delete all chats and confirm.

This removes every conversation, including chats inside projects. In the same menu you’ll find Archive all chats, which hides everything from the sidebar without deleting it, and Archived chats > Manage, where you can unarchive or delete chats you archived earlier.

Before you press the button, export anything you need. Settings > Data controls > Export data emails you a download link to a .zip file with your chats in a readable chat.html file. The link expires after 24 hours, so download it promptly.

How to delete what ChatGPT remembers about you

Memory is separate from chat history. When memory is on, ChatGPT saves details such as your business name, your role or the way you like things written, and uses them in future chats. Deleting the chat where you mentioned something does not delete the memory created from it.

1. Go to Settings > Personalization.
2. Open Manage memories to see what has been saved.
3. To remove one item, click the menu next to it and choose Delete.
4. To remove everything, use the menu next to the search bar and choose Delete all.

Some accounts now see a newer layout under Settings > Memory, with an editable memory summary instead of a list. The same principle applies: edit or clear the summary, and use the link to the saved memories list if you want to delete individual items. OpenAI notes that deleted saved memories may be kept in logs for up to 30 days for safety and debugging.

Turn memory off

If you’d rather ChatGPT didn’t remember anything, switch off Reference saved memories in Personalization. You can also switch off Reference chat history, which stops it drawing on past conversations. Turning saved memories off doesn’t delete what’s already saved, so delete those first if that’s your goal.

How to stop new chats being saved

For one-off sensitive questions, use Temporary Chat. You’ll find it at the top of a new chat. Temporary chats don’t appear in your history, don’t create memories and aren’t used to train models. OpenAI keeps them for up to 30 days to check for abuse, then deletes them.

If you want to stop your conversations being used to improve OpenAI’s models, that’s a different setting: turn off Improve the model for everyone under Settings > Data controls.

A sensible routine for small businesses

• Don’t paste what you wouldn’t email. Customer bank details, passwords and health information shouldn’t go into a personal ChatGPT account at all.
• Use Temporary Chat for anything involving named customers or staff.
• Clear memory on any account that more than one person uses.
• Review your history monthly and delete chats you no longer need.
• Export before you delete if a chat holds work you might reuse.
• Consider a business plan. ChatGPT’s business plans give an owner more control over data and retention than personal accounts.

If you’re handling personal data, deleting chats is part of good housekeeping under UK GDPR, but it isn’t a substitute for not putting the data there in the first place. Our guide to AI tools and UK GDPR explains the basics.

Files, images and projects

Files you upload and images you generate live inside the chat they belong to, so deleting the chat removes them from your history too. Projects work slightly differently: a project groups chats and files together. Deleting all chats removes the chats inside projects, but check the project itself afterwards and remove any files you added to it. If you’ve connected apps such as cloud storage, deleting a chat also removes any synced app data kept in that chat, but disconnecting the app is a separate step.

Shared and team accounts

Plenty of small businesses share one ChatGPT login between two or three people. It’s simple, but it means everyone can see everyone else’s chats, and memory blends together, so ChatGPT might use your colleague’s preferences in your drafts. If you share an account, clear the memory regularly and agree what doesn’t go in. A better long-term fix is a business plan with separate seats, where each person has their own history and the owner controls settings for the whole workspace.

Deleting history vs deleting your account

Clearing your history leaves your account, settings and any subscription in place. Deleting your account removes everything permanently, and you may not be able to reuse the same email address straight away. If you’re leaving ChatGPT, cancel any paid plan first, export your data, and then delete the account from Settings. Our guide to cancelling a ChatGPT subscription covers the billing side, including subscriptions bought through Apple or Google.

How to check it worked

After deleting, refresh the page or close and reopen the app. The sidebar should be empty, or missing the chats you removed. Open Settings > Personalization and check the memories list is empty if you cleared it. Finally, start a new chat and ask ChatGPT what it remembers about you; if memory is cleared, it should say it has nothing saved.

Common mistakes

• Archiving instead of deleting. Archived chats are still stored in your account.
• Deleting chats but not memories. ChatGPT may still remember details from a deleted chat.
• Forgetting the mobile app. Settings sync across devices, but check the app is signed into the same account.
• Deleting before exporting. Deleted chats can’t be recovered.
• Assuming deletion is instant everywhere. It’s immediate in your account, but backend copies can take up to 30 days to go.

Frequently asked questions

Can I recover a deleted ChatGPT chat?

No. Once deleted, a chat can’t be restored. Export your data first if you might need it.

Does deleting a chat delete ChatGPT’s memory of it?

No. Memories are stored separately. Delete them in Settings > Personalization > Manage memories.

How long does OpenAI keep deleted chats?

OpenAI says deleted chats are removed from its systems within 30 days, with some exceptions for security or legal reasons.

What is the difference between archive and delete?

Archive hides a chat from the sidebar but keeps it in your account. Delete removes it.

How do I stop ChatGPT saving chats?

Use Temporary Chat. It isn’t saved to your history, doesn’t create memories and is deleted within 30 days.

Does deleting my history delete my account?

No. Your account and subscription stay active. Deleting your account is a separate option in Settings.

Sources

• OpenAI Help: How to delete and archive chats in ChatGPT
• OpenAI Help: Memory FAQ
• OpenAI Help: Data controls FAQ
• OpenAI Help: Exporting your ChatGPT history and data

Related guides

• How to delete Gemini chats
• How to cancel a ChatGPT subscription
• ChatGPT pricing in the UK
• AI tools and UK GDPR

Quick answer: to plan social media content with AI, write a reusable brand brief, pick four or five content pillars, ask ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini for a monthly calendar, write captions in batches, then edit every post so it sounds like you.

Social media is one of those jobs every small business owner knows they should do and almost nobody has time for. The result is usually a burst of posts, then weeks of silence. AI tools will not make your business interesting, but they are very good at the part that stops most people: turning a few ideas into a month of ready-to-publish posts.

This guide gives you a practical workflow to plan a month of social media content with AI in a single afternoon, using ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini for the writing and a design tool such as Canva for the visuals. Block out three to four hours, follow the steps, and you will finish with 12 to 20 posts scheduled for the month ahead.

What you need before you start

• An AI assistant – the free version of ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini is fine
• A design tool – Canva is the easiest for most people
• Your brand basics: logo, colours, a few photos of your products, premises or team
• A list of anything happening this month: offers, events, new stock, seasonal dates
• Two or three examples of posts you like, from your own account or others

Step 1: Set up your “brand brief” once

The biggest reason AI social posts sound generic is that the AI knows nothing about you. Fix that with a brand brief you reuse every month.

Prompt: “I run [business] in [location]. Our customers are [description]. We are known for [strengths]. Our tone is [e.g. friendly, down-to-earth, a bit of humour, never salesy]. We use British English. Words and phrases we like: [list]. Things we never say: [list]. Here are three posts I like: [paste]. Summarise this into a brand brief I can reuse.”

Save the result. In ChatGPT you can put it into custom instructions or a custom GPT; in Claude, a Project; in Gemini, a Gem. From then on, every post starts from your brand rather than from scratch.

Step 2: Choose your content pillars

Content pillars are the four or five themes you rotate through, so your feed has variety without you reinventing it each week. Good pillars for a small business are usually:

1. Helpful tips – advice your customers value (how to care for a product, how to prepare for a service)
2. Behind the scenes – people, process, premises
3. Social proof – reviews, customer stories, before-and-after
4. Products and offers – what you sell, with a clear call to action
5. Community and seasonal – local events, awareness days, the season

Prompt: “Using my brand brief, suggest five content pillars for [business], with three example post ideas for each.”

Step 3: Generate a month of ideas

Prompt: “Create a social media content calendar for [month] for [platforms]. We post [3] times a week. Rotate through my content pillars and include these dates and events: [list]. Present it as a table with columns for date, platform, pillar, post idea and suggested visual.”

Review the table critically. Delete anything that does not sound like you or that you cannot support with a real photo or fact. Replace weak ideas with specific ones from your own week – a new product, a funny moment, a customer question. Aim for a calendar you would actually be happy to post.

Sample calendar: first two weeks for a local café

Day	Pillar	Post idea	Visual
Mon	Tips	How to make a better coffee at home in three steps	Barista hands, close-up
Wed	Behind the scenes	Meet the baker who starts at 5am	Photo of the baker with fresh bread
Fri	Offer	Weekend brunch special	Plated dish, natural light
Mon	Social proof	A regular’s review, with thanks	Review graphic in brand colours
Wed	Community	Supporting the local school fair	Photo from the event
Fri	Product	New autumn menu launches	Carousel of three dishes

Step 4: Write the posts in batches

Write one pillar at a time rather than one post at a time; the AI keeps a more consistent voice that way.

Prompt: “Write the captions for all the Helpful tips posts in the calendar. Instagram captions up to 120 words with line breaks, a question or call to action at the end, and 5 relevant hashtags. Facebook versions slightly shorter with no hashtags. Follow my brand brief.”

Then edit. A good rule is to change at least one sentence in every post so that it contains something only you could say – a name, a detail, an opinion. That is what makes posts feel human, and it is what your audience responds to.

Platform-specific tips

• Instagram: strong first line, carousels for tips, Reels for behind the scenes.
• Facebook: conversational posts, local news, events and questions that invite comments.
• LinkedIn: for B2B businesses – lessons learned, results, opinions on your industry.
• TikTok: short, authentic video; use AI for hooks and scripts rather than finished content.
• Google Business Profile: often forgotten, but posts here appear in local search. Reuse your offer and event posts.

Step 5: Create the visuals

Real photos of your products, place and people nearly always outperform stock images and AI-generated pictures for small businesses. Use AI to speed up design rather than replace photography.

• Use Canva templates in your brand colours, and its AI features to resize designs for each platform or remove backgrounds – see our guide to Canva Magic Studio for small businesses.
• Use AI image tools for backgrounds, textures or illustrations, not to fake products or customers. Our Midjourney guide covers sensible uses.
• Turn reviews and tips into simple text graphics.
• Batch-shoot photos: 30 minutes with a phone and good daylight can cover a month.

Step 6: Schedule everything

Use Meta Business Suite for Facebook and Instagram, or a scheduling tool that covers all your platforms. Load every post with its image, caption and time, then leave space in the calendar for spontaneous posts – news, a great customer moment, a quick video. Scheduled content keeps you consistent; spontaneous content keeps you real.

Repurpose social media content with AI across every platform

You do not need a separate idea for every platform. One strong piece of content can become five posts. Ask the AI to do the reformatting:

Prompt: “Here is a tip I want to share: [tip]. Turn it into an Instagram carousel script (six slides, one short line each), a Facebook post, a LinkedIn post with a lesson for other business owners, a 30-second video script with a strong opening line, and a Google Business Profile update.”

This is where AI saves the most time. Writing the core idea well is the hard, human part; adapting it for each format is repetitive work AI handles quickly. Just make sure each version still sounds like your business, and spread them across the month rather than posting everything on the same day.

Keep a running ideas list

The best content ideas arrive in the middle of a working week – a customer question, a mistake you fixed, a delivery that arrived. Keep a note on your phone and add to it whenever something happens. When you sit down to plan next month, paste the list into your AI assistant and ask it to turn the best ideas into posts. Within a couple of months, your content will be built mostly from real moments, with AI doing the tidying up.

Step 7: Review what worked

At the end of the month, export your post results or copy the numbers into a spreadsheet, then ask the AI to help interpret them.

Prompt: “Here are my posts from last month with reach, likes, comments, shares and clicks: [paste]. Which pillars and formats performed best? What patterns do you notice? Suggest five changes for next month’s plan.”

Over three or four months, this simple loop teaches you far more about your audience than any generic social media advice.

Quality checks before anything goes live

• Facts. Check prices, dates, opening hours and any claims.
• Tone. Read posts aloud. If it does not sound like you, rewrite it.
• Clichés. Remove phrases like “elevate your experience” and “look no further”.
• Spelling. Make sure AI has used British English.
• Rights. Only use photos you own or have permission to use, and ask customers before featuring them.
• Advertising rules. Offers must be clear and accurate. Paid partnerships must be labelled as ads.

How long does this take?

Task	First month	Following months
Brand brief and pillars	45 minutes	0 minutes (reuse)
Calendar of ideas	30 minutes	20 minutes
Writing and editing captions	60–90 minutes	45 minutes
Visuals	60 minutes	45 minutes
Scheduling	30 minutes	20 minutes

Looking for more prompts? See our 50 ChatGPT prompts for small business owners, which include marketing prompts you can drop into this workflow.

For design, Canva has free templates for every major platform. Pairing its templates with social media content with AI writing is the fastest way for a small team to stay consistent.

Social media content with AI: frequently asked questions

Can AI run my social media for me?

AI can plan and draft, but posts that perform best still include your own photos, details and personality. Think of AI as an assistant, not a replacement.

Which AI is best for social media captions?

ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini all write good captions when given a clear brand brief. Pick the one you find easiest to use and set up your brief there.

Do social platforms penalise AI-written posts?

Platforms focus on whether people engage with content. Generic posts tend to perform poorly whoever writes them, which is why editing matters.

How often should a small business post?

Consistency matters more than volume. Three good posts a week that you can sustain beat daily posting for two weeks followed by silence.

Quick answer: AI tools and UK GDPR can work together, as long as you remove personal data you do not need, use business plans with proper data terms for customer information, mention AI in your privacy notice, and give staff clear written rules.

Every day, small business owners paste customer emails, CVs, invoices and spreadsheets into AI assistants to save time. Most never stop to ask whether that is allowed. Under UK data protection law, it might not be – or it might be perfectly fine, as long as you have taken a few sensible steps first.

This guide explains, in plain English, how AI tools and UK GDPR fit together for small businesses using assistants such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Microsoft Copilot. It is general information, not legal advice. For your specific situation, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) website has detailed guidance, and a data protection specialist can help.

AI tools and UK GDPR: the short answer

You can use AI tools in a way that complies with UK GDPR, but personal data needs care. Before putting information about customers, staff or anyone else into an AI tool, you need to know how that tool handles the data, have a lawful reason for using it that way, and be open with people about it. The simplest and safest habit is to remove personal details before you paste whenever the task does not need them.

What counts as personal data?

Personal data is any information that relates to an identifiable living person. In a small business that includes far more than you might think:

• Customer names, email addresses, phone numbers and home addresses
• Order histories and booking details linked to a person
• Emails and messages written by or about a customer
• CVs, interview notes and employee records
• Photos and recordings of people
• Notes about a person’s circumstances, preferences or complaints

Some information is “special category” data and needs extra protection – for example health information, religious beliefs, ethnicity or trade union membership. Be especially careful never to put this into general AI tools without proper safeguards.

Why AI tools raise data protection questions

When you paste information into an AI assistant, you are sending it to another company’s systems, often outside the UK. Three questions matter:

1. Is the data stored, and for how long? Many tools keep conversation history unless you delete it or change settings.
2. Is the data used to train the AI? Some consumer plans may use conversations to improve models unless you opt out. Business plans generally do not by default.
3. Where is it processed? Sending personal data outside the UK is allowed, but there are rules about the safeguards that must be in place.

Consumer plans vs business plans

This is the single most important distinction for a small business. Most AI providers offer two types of service:

	Consumer plans (Free, Plus, Pro)	Business plans (Team, Business, Enterprise, Workspace, Microsoft 365)
Main purpose	Individual use	Organisational use
Training on your data	May be on by default; usually can be switched off	Generally off by default
Data processing terms	Standard consumer terms	Business terms, often including a data processing agreement
Admin controls	None	Manage users, remove leavers, set policies
Suitable for customer personal data?	Generally avoid	Can be, with the right checks

If staff regularly handle customer or employee data with AI, moving to a business plan is usually the most important step you can take. Compare costs in our guides to ChatGPT pricing, Claude pricing and Gemini pricing.

The UK GDPR principles, applied to AI

Lawfulness, fairness and transparency

You need a lawful basis for processing personal data – often “legitimate interests” or “performance of a contract” for everyday business tasks. You also need to tell people how you use their data. If you use AI tools to process customer information, your privacy notice should say so in general terms.

Purpose limitation

Only use data for the purposes you collected it for. Using a customer’s complaint email to draft a reply to that customer is closely connected to why you have it. Uploading your entire customer list to an AI tool to “see what it finds” is much harder to justify.

Data minimisation

Only share what is necessary. Most AI tasks do not need names or contact details. Replace them with placeholders such as [Customer] or [Order number] before pasting.

Accuracy

AI can get things wrong. If an AI tool summarises information about a person or helps you make a decision about them, check the output. Never let an AI make significant decisions about people – hiring, firing, credit – without meaningful human review.

Security

Protect accounts with strong passwords and two-step verification, restrict who has access, and remove access promptly when staff leave. Shared logins to a personal AI account are a common weak spot.

Storage limitation

Delete conversations containing personal data when you no longer need them, and check the tool’s retention settings. Our guide to deleting Gemini chats shows how this works in practice.

A simple checklist before using an AI tool with personal data

1. Can the task be done without personal data? If so, anonymise first.
2. Is the tool a business plan with business data terms?
3. Is training on your data switched off?
4. Do you know where the data is processed and what safeguards apply?
5. Is the use covered by your lawful basis and mentioned in your privacy notice?
6. Could the use be high risk – for example, large volumes of data, special category data or decisions about people? If so, consider a data protection impact assessment (DPIA).
7. Do staff know the rules? Put them in writing.

A sample AI policy for a small business

A short written policy prevents most problems. Adapt this example:

1. Staff may use the AI tools approved by the business: [list tools and plans].
2. Do not enter customer, supplier or employee personal data into any AI tool unless the task requires it and the tool is on the approved list for personal data.
3. Never enter bank details, passwords, health information or other sensitive data into an AI tool.
4. Remove names and contact details from text before pasting whenever possible.
5. Check all AI output before sending it to a customer or publishing it.
6. AI must not be used to make decisions about individuals without review by a manager.
7. Report any mistake – such as pasting the wrong document – to [name] immediately.

What to do if someone pastes the wrong thing

Mistakes happen. A member of staff might paste a full customer list instead of one row, or upload a document containing bank details. If that happens, act quickly and calmly:

1. Delete the conversation in the AI tool straight away, and check whether the tool has a separate setting for deleting stored data.
2. Record what happened – what data, how many people, which tool, when – even if you decide no further action is needed. UK GDPR expects organisations to keep a record of personal data breaches.
3. Assess the risk to the people involved. Consider how sensitive the data was and whether it could cause them harm.
4. Report to the ICO if required. Breaches that are likely to result in a risk to people’s rights and freedoms must be reported to the ICO within 72 hours of becoming aware of them. If the risk is high, you may also need to tell the individuals.
5. Learn from it. Update your AI policy or training so it does not happen again.

Having a named person who staff can tell immediately makes a huge difference. Most breaches become serious because nobody mentioned them until weeks later.

Practical examples

Task	Risk	Safer approach
Drafting a reply to a complaint	Low–medium	Paste the complaint with the name and details removed
Summarising a CV for a shortlist	Medium–high	Use a business plan, tell candidates, and make the decision yourself
Writing a marketing email	Low	No personal data needed
Analysing a customer spreadsheet	High	Remove identifying columns or use a business plan with a data processing agreement
Transcribing a staff meeting	Medium	Tell attendees, use a business tool, delete recordings when done

What about AI features inside tools you already use?

AI is increasingly built into software you already use – email, accounting, CRM and office suites. The same rules on AI tools and UK GDPR apply. Check whether the feature sends data to a third-party AI provider, whether it is covered by your existing contract, and whether you can switch it off. Business editions of Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace generally apply their business terms to their built-in AI features. See our comparison of Copilot vs ChatGPT for more on Microsoft’s approach.

The Information Commissioner’s Office publishes detailed guidance for organisations, including material on artificial intelligence. Use it alongside this guide to check how AI tools and UK GDPR apply to your own business.

AI tools and UK GDPR: frequently asked questions

Is it illegal to put customer data into ChatGPT?

Not automatically, but you must comply with UK GDPR. Using a consumer account with personal data, without telling customers or checking settings, is risky. Remove personal details where you can, or use a business plan with appropriate data terms.

Do I need to tell customers I use AI?

If you use AI tools to process their personal data, your privacy notice should explain this in general terms, alongside other services you use.

Is ChatGPT GDPR compliant?

The question is whether your use of it complies. OpenAI and other providers offer business plans with data processing terms designed to help organisations meet their obligations.

Where can I get official guidance?

The ICO publishes guidance on AI and data protection, including material aimed at small businesses, on its website.

Quick answer: to write a business plan with AI, gather your own facts first, let ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini interview you, draft one section at a time, build the financials in a spreadsheet, and ask the AI to criticise the finished plan.

A business plan used to mean a weekend with a blank document and a template you half understood. AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini have changed that. Used well, they can turn your ideas into a clear, well-structured plan in a few hours – asking you the right questions, organising your thinking and drafting each section.

Used badly, they produce a generic plan full of confident-sounding numbers that have nothing to do with your business. This guide shows you how to write a business plan with AI the right way: you supply the facts and judgement, the AI does the structuring and drafting.

What AI can and cannot do for your business plan

AI is good at	You still need to do
Structuring the plan into clear sections	Decide what the business actually is and who it serves
Asking questions that expose gaps in your thinking	Answer those questions honestly
Drafting readable text from rough notes	Check every claim and number
Suggesting research areas and competitor types	Do the real research and speak to customers
Building a forecast layout and formulas	Supply realistic prices, costs and sales volumes
Rewriting for a bank, investor or grant audience	Make sure the plan reflects reality

The golden rule: never let AI invent your numbers or your market data. AI tools can state figures that sound plausible but are wrong. Use them to organise and explain, not as a source of facts.

Before you start: gather your raw material

AI works best with specific input. Spend 30 minutes jotting down, in any order:

• What you sell, and at what price
• Who buys it and why they need it
• Where and how you will sell (shop, online, trade, contracts)
• Who else sells something similar nearby or online
• What it costs you to make or deliver
• Start-up costs: equipment, stock, website, deposits
• Your own experience and any team
• What you want the plan for: a bank loan, an investor, a grant, or your own clarity

Rough bullet points are fine. The point is that the facts come from you.

Step 1: Let the AI interview you

Instead of asking for a plan immediately, ask the assistant to question you first. This single step dramatically improves the result.

Prompt: “I want to write a business plan for [idea] in [town/region]. Act as an experienced business adviser. Ask me questions one at a time to understand the business, the customers, the competition and the finances. After about 15 questions, summarise what you have learned and point out any gaps or risks.”

Answer as honestly as you can. If you do not know something, say so – the gaps it identifies become your research list.

Step 2: Agree the structure

Most UK business plans, including those requested by banks and start-up loan schemes, follow a similar structure:

1. Executive summary
2. Business description and owners
3. Products or services
4. Market research and target customers
5. Competitor analysis
6. Marketing and sales plan
7. Operations: premises, suppliers, equipment, staff
8. Financial plan: start-up costs, pricing, sales forecast, cash flow, break-even
9. Risks and how you will manage them

Prompt: “Based on our conversation, create an outline for my business plan using these sections. Under each heading, list the specific points I should cover for my business.” If a lender or grant body has its own template, paste its headings in instead.

Step 3: Draft each section separately

Do not ask for the whole plan in one go. You will get shallow, generic text. Work section by section, giving the AI your notes each time.

Business description

Prompt: “Write the business description section using these notes: [notes]. Keep it under 300 words, factual and plain English. Do not add any claims I have not given you.”

Target customers

Prompt: “Help me describe my target customers. Here is what I know: [notes]. Suggest two or three customer profiles, and list what I should check to confirm each one is real.”

Competitor analysis

List real competitors you have found yourself, with their prices and what customers say about them. Then: “Turn this competitor information into a comparison table and a short analysis of where my business can stand out: [details].” Research tools such as Perplexity can help you find competitors, but always visit their websites to confirm – see our guide to using Perplexity for research.

Marketing plan

Prompt: “Suggest a realistic first-year marketing plan for [business] with a budget of [amount]. Break it down by month and channel, and say how I would measure whether each activity works.”

Operations

Prompt: “Write the operations section from these notes: [premises, suppliers, opening hours, equipment, staff]. Highlight anything that could stop the business operating and what the backup would be.”

Step 4: Build the financials – carefully

This is where AI is most useful and most dangerous. It is excellent at building the structure of a forecast and explaining concepts; it has no idea what your sales will be.

1. Start-up costs. Give the AI your list of costs and ask it to organise them into a table with a total, and to suggest common costs you may have forgotten (insurance, licences, accountancy, website hosting).
2. Sales forecast. Decide your own assumptions – price, customers per week, seasonality – then ask the AI to lay them out month by month for 12 months in a table you can paste into a spreadsheet.
3. Cash flow. Ask for a simple cash flow template with columns for each month and rows for money in and money out, and an explanation of how to fill it in.
4. Break-even. Ask it to calculate your break-even point from your fixed costs, price and cost per sale, and to show the working.

Then check the maths in a spreadsheet yourself. AI chatbots can make arithmetic mistakes, especially across long tables. Most lenders will expect a spreadsheet anyway.

Step 5: Write the executive summary last

The executive summary is the most-read page, and it is easier to write once everything else exists.

Prompt: “Here is my complete business plan: [paste]. Write a one-page executive summary for [a bank manager / an investor / a grant panel]. Include what the business does, the opportunity, how much funding is needed and what it will be used for, and the key financial figures. Use only information from the plan.”

Step 6: Ask the AI to criticise it

Once the plan is drafted, switch the AI into critic mode. This is one of its most valuable uses.

Prompt: “Act as a sceptical bank lending manager. Review this business plan and list the ten biggest weaknesses, unanswered questions or unrealistic assumptions. Be blunt.” Fix what you can, and address the rest honestly in the risks section.

Step 7: Tailor the plan to its reader

The same business can need very different plans. A bank wants to know it will be repaid, so it focuses on cash flow, security and your track record. An investor wants growth and a route to a return. A grant panel wants to see that you meet its criteria and will deliver the outcomes it funds. And a plan written only for yourself can be shorter and more practical.

Prompt: “Rewrite this plan for [audience]. Tell me which sections they will care about most, what they are likely to ask, and what I should add or cut.” Keep a master version and create tailored copies, rather than overwriting the original each time.

Which AI tool is best for business plans?

• Claude handles long documents well and writes in a natural tone, which helps when reviewing a full plan. See how small businesses use Claude.
• ChatGPT is strong for brainstorming and structured tables. See how small businesses use ChatGPT.
• Gemini is convenient if you write in Google Docs and Sheets, and its Deep Research feature helps with early market research.

Free versions are enough for most plans. Paid plans help if you are uploading long documents repeatedly. Our 50 ChatGPT prompts for small business owners include more planning prompts.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Copying AI market statistics. Find figures from reliable sources and cite them.
• Accepting generic text. If a sentence could describe any business, rewrite it with your specifics.
• Over-optimistic forecasts. Ask the AI for a pessimistic scenario as well as your expected one.
• Forgetting your own voice. Lenders meet you, not the AI. Make sure you can explain every part of the plan in your own words.
• Pasting sensitive information carelessly. Think before uploading personal financial details or other people’s data.

The UK government’s guide to writing a business plan includes free templates you can use alongside these prompts. Combining an official template with a business plan with AI drafting is one of the quickest ways to get a lender-ready document.

Business plan with AI: frequently asked questions

Can ChatGPT write a business plan for me?

It can draft one, but the plan is only as good as the information you give it. Use AI to structure and write, and supply the facts, prices and forecasts yourself.

Will a bank accept a business plan written with AI?

Banks judge the content, not how it was typed. A plan based on real research and realistic numbers, which you can explain confidently, is what matters.

How long does it take to write a business plan with AI?

With your notes prepared, a solid first draft can take an afternoon. Allow more time for research and for checking the financials.

Is it safe to put my business idea into ChatGPT?

Check the data settings of the tool you use. Most allow you to turn off training on your conversations, and business plans offer stronger data terms.

Quick answer: the best ChatGPT prompts for small business owners give the AI a role, context about your business, a clear task, the format you want and any limits. Below are 50 ready-made examples you can copy, paste and adapt.

Most small business owners try ChatGPT once, type a vague question, get a vague answer and decide it is not for them. The problem is rarely the tool. It is the prompt. A good prompt gives the AI the context a new member of staff would need: who you are, who the customer is, what you want and what good looks like.

Below are 50 ChatGPT prompts for small business owners, grouped by task. They work just as well in Claude, Gemini or Copilot. Replace anything in [square brackets] with your own details, and treat every output as a first draft to check and edit.

The simple formula behind every good prompt

Before the list, one formula worth remembering. Strong prompts usually contain five parts:

1. Role – who the AI should act as (“You are an experienced copywriter for UK trades businesses”).
2. Context – facts about your business, customer and situation.
3. Task – exactly what you want produced.
4. Format – length, structure, tone (“three short paragraphs, friendly but professional, British English”).
5. Constraints – what to avoid (“no jargon, do not promise same-day delivery”).

If an answer misses the mark, do not start again – reply with what is wrong (“too formal, and shorter please”). Iterating is where most of the value comes from.

Marketing prompts

1. Act as a marketing consultant for a [type of business] in [town]. Suggest 10 low-cost marketing ideas I could start this month with a budget under £200.
2. Write five Facebook posts promoting [product/service] to [target customer]. Each under 60 words, friendly tone, with a clear call to action.
3. Create a 30-day social media content calendar for [business]. Mix tips, behind-the-scenes, customer stories and offers. Present it as a table.
4. Rewrite this website homepage text so it is clearer and focuses on customer benefits rather than features: [paste text].
5. Give me 20 blog post ideas that [target customer] would search for before buying [product/service].
6. Write a Google Business Profile description for [business] in under 750 characters, including our main services and area.
7. Suggest 10 names for a new [product/service], with a one-line explanation of each.
8. Write a short email newsletter announcing [news/offer] to existing customers. Include a subject line and preview text.
9. Turn this customer review into three short social media posts that thank the customer and highlight what they liked: [paste review].
10. Write three versions of a Google Ads headline and description for [service] in [area], within the character limits.

Want to go further? Our guide to planning a month of social media content with AI shows a complete workflow.

Customer service prompts

1. Write a polite, professional reply to this customer complaint. Apologise, explain what we will do next and offer [remedy]: [paste complaint].
2. Create a set of 15 frequently asked questions and answers for [business] based on this information: [paste details].
3. Rewrite this reply so it sounds warmer and less defensive: [paste draft].
4. Write a friendly message asking a happy customer to leave a Google review, with a short and a longer version.
5. Draft a clear returns and refunds policy for a small UK online shop selling [products]. Keep it simple and customer-friendly, and remind me to check it against consumer law.
6. Write a message to customers explaining a delay to their order caused by [reason], with a new expected date.
7. Create a script for answering the phone and handling a price enquiry for [service].
8. Summarise this long customer email in three bullet points and suggest the key things my reply must address: [paste email].

Sales prompts

1. Write a follow-up email to a potential client who received a quote for [service] a week ago and has not replied. Keep it short and helpful, not pushy.
2. Help me write a proposal for [client] for [project]. Include understanding of their needs, our approach, timeline, price and next steps.
3. List the 10 most common objections a customer might have to buying [product/service] and a helpful response to each.
4. Write a cold email introducing [business] to [type of business] in [area], explaining how we can help with [problem].
5. Create three pricing packages (basic, standard, premium) for [service], with what each includes.
6. Turn these features into customer benefits: [list features].
7. Write a short case study based on this project: [details]. Structure it as challenge, solution, result.

Admin and productivity prompts

1. Summarise this document in plain English in no more than 200 words, then list any actions I need to take: [paste text].
2. Turn these rough meeting notes into clear minutes with decisions and action points, including who is responsible: [paste notes].
3. Create a weekly checklist for running [type of business], split by day.
4. Write a standard operating procedure for [task] that a new employee could follow step by step.
5. Draft a polite email to a supplier asking for better payment terms because [reason].
6. Help me prioritise this to-do list using urgency and importance, and suggest what to delegate: [paste list].
7. Write an out-of-office message for [dates] that tells customers who to contact in an emergency.

Finance and pricing prompts

1. Explain in simple terms the difference between profit and cash flow, using an example of a [type of business].
2. Help me work out a price for [service]. My costs are [costs], I need [hours] and want a margin of [percentage]. Show the calculation.
3. Write a polite but firm reminder to a client whose invoice of [amount] is [number] days overdue.
4. Create a simple monthly budget template for a small [type of business], listing typical cost categories.
5. List ways a small [type of business] could reduce its monthly costs without affecting quality.
6. Explain what I should ask my accountant about [topic], as a list of questions.

AI is useful for understanding and organising finances, but it is not a substitute for an accountant. Always check tax and legal points with a qualified professional.

HR and hiring prompts

1. Write a job advert for a [role] at [business] in [town]. Include responsibilities, what we offer and how to apply. Use inclusive language.
2. Create 10 interview questions for a [role], including two practical scenario questions.
3. Draft a first-day welcome plan for a new [role], including introductions, training and tasks.
4. Write a friendly message to staff announcing [change], explaining the reason and what it means for them.
5. Create a simple staff handbook outline for a business with [number] employees.

Planning and strategy prompts

1. Act as a business mentor. Ask me 10 questions to help me work out my goals for the next 12 months, one at a time.
2. Do a SWOT analysis for [business] based on this information: [details].
3. Help me write a one-page business plan for [business idea]. See our full guide to writing a business plan with AI for the steps.
4. List the risks of [decision] and how I could reduce each one.
5. Suggest five ways I could add a new income stream to [business] using the skills and equipment we already have.
6. Compare these three options for [decision] in a table showing cost, time, risk and likely benefit: [options].
7. Turn this goal into a 90-day plan with weekly milestones: [goal].

Tips for getting better answers

• Give examples. Paste a previous email or post you liked and ask for the same style.
• Ask for options. “Give me three versions” makes it easy to pick and combine.
• Ask it to ask you questions. “Before you write this, ask me anything you need to know” often produces far better results.
• Specify British English. Otherwise you may get American spellings and phrases.
• Never paste sensitive data carelessly. Remove customer names, bank details and anything confidential unless your AI plan and policies allow it. Our guide to AI and UK GDPR explains why.
• Save your best prompts. Keep a document of prompts that work, or use a Project, Gem or custom GPT so you do not retype them.

Which AI tool should you use these prompts in?

All of these prompts work in the free versions of the main assistants. If you use them daily, a paid plan gives you higher limits and better models. Compare costs in our guides to ChatGPT pricing, Claude pricing and Gemini pricing in the UK.

OpenAI also publishes its own prompt engineering guide, which explains the same principles in more technical detail. Save the ChatGPT prompts for small business tasks that work best for you in a shared document so your whole team can reuse them.

ChatGPT prompts for small business: frequently asked questions

What is a prompt in ChatGPT?

A prompt is the instruction or question you type into ChatGPT. The more context and detail it contains, the more useful the answer usually is.

Do these prompts work in Claude and Gemini?

Yes. They are written in plain language and work in any mainstream AI assistant.

Is it safe to put business information into ChatGPT?

General business information is usually fine. Avoid pasting personal data about customers or staff, financial details or confidential documents unless your plan’s data terms and your own policies allow it.

How long should a ChatGPT prompt be?

Long enough to include the context a new employee would need. A two-line prompt is fine for a simple task; for a proposal or policy, a paragraph of background plus a clear description of the output usually gives far better results.

Can ChatGPT replace a marketing agency?

It can handle a lot of first drafts and ideas, but it does not know your customers the way you do. Most businesses get the best results by using AI for drafts and spending their own time on editing and strategy.

Quick answer: here is how to delete Gemini chats: open Gemini, find the conversation in the side panel, open the menu next to it and choose Delete. To remove many chats at once, use Gemini Apps Activity in your Google account, and export anything you want to keep with Google Takeout first.

Google Gemini keeps a history of your conversations so you can pick up where you left off. That’s convenient — until you want to tidy up, remove something sensitive, or stop Google keeping your chats at all. This guide explains how to delete Gemini chats individually or all at once, how to control what Google keeps with Gemini Apps Activity, and how to export a Gemini chat before you delete it.

The steps below are based on Google’s Gemini Apps Help pages for personal Google accounts, checked in September 2026. If you use Gemini through a work or school account, your administrator controls some of these settings.

Quick answer

• Delete one chat: hover over the chat in the side panel → More (three dots) → Delete.
• Delete all chats: Settings & help → Activity → Delete → All time.
• Stop saving chats: turn off Keep Activity in Gemini Apps Activity.
• Delete automatically: set auto-delete to 3, 18 or 36 months.
• Save a chat first: use Share & export → Export to Docs, or download your data with Google Takeout.

How to delete a single Gemini chat on a computer

1. Go to gemini.google.com and sign in.
2. If the side panel is hidden, click the Menu icon to show your chats.
3. Hover over the chat you want to remove under Recent (or Pinned).
4. Click More (the three-dot icon).
5. Select Delete, then confirm.

According to Google, deleting a chat also deletes it from your Gemini Apps Activity, along with content created in that chat, such as Canvas documents.

How to delete a Gemini chat on Android or iPhone

1. Open the Gemini app (or Gemini in the Google app on iPhone).
2. Open the list of chats (tap the menu or your chat history).
3. Touch and hold the chat you want to remove, or tap More next to it.
4. Tap Delete and confirm.

Menu wording varies slightly between Android, iPhone and app versions, but the option is always attached to the individual chat.

How to delete all Gemini chats at once

Gemini doesn’t have a “select several chats” button in the chat list, but you can clear everything through your activity settings:

1. Go to gemini.google.com.
2. Select Settings & help, then Activity.
3. Click Delete.
4. Choose All time to remove everything, or Last hour, Last day or Custom range.
5. Confirm the deletion.

You can also delete a specific day, or individual items, by clicking the delete icon next to them on the Activity page.

Turn off Keep Activity (stop saving new chats)

If you don’t want Google to keep your Gemini conversations in your account history:

1. Go to Settings & help → Activity in Gemini.
2. Turn off Keep Activity (previously called Gemini Apps Activity).
3. Choose whether to also delete existing activity.

What happens when Keep Activity is off? Google says conversations are still saved with your account for up to 72 hours so it can provide the service and process feedback, but they won’t appear in your Gemini Apps Activity. Some features — such as seeing and returning to past chats — require Keep Activity to be on.

Set Gemini to auto-delete old chats

A middle ground is auto-delete:

1. Open Settings & help → Activity.
2. Find the auto-delete option.
3. Choose 3 months, 18 months or 36 months — or turn auto-delete off.

By default, Google automatically deletes activity older than 18 months. Choosing 3 months is a good privacy-friendly setting for most people.

What deleting doesn’t remove

A few things are worth knowing:

• Human-reviewed conversations: Google explains that some conversations may be reviewed by trained reviewers to improve its services. Google’s privacy notice states that reviewed conversations are stored separately and kept for a longer period (up to three years), and are not removed when you delete your Gemini Apps Activity. This is why you should never enter confidential information you wouldn’t want a reviewer to see.
• Saved info: if you’ve asked Gemini to remember things about you (preferences, facts about your work), these are stored in Saved info, separate from chat history. Delete them in Settings & help → Saved info.
• Shared links: if you shared a public link to a chat, manage or delete it separately under Settings & help → Your public links.
• Exported copies: anything you exported to Google Docs, Gmail drafts or downloads stays there until you delete it.
• Other Google services: content created with Gemini in Gmail, Docs or Drive lives in those apps.

Common mistakes when deleting Gemini chats

• Deleting in the wrong Google account. If you use more than one account, check the profile picture in the top-right corner before deleting.
• Forgetting Saved info. Clearing chats doesn’t remove the facts Gemini has been asked to remember. Review Saved info separately.
• Leaving public links active. A shared link can still be viewed until you delete it from your public links list.
• Not exporting first. Once a chat is deleted from your activity, you can’t restore it. Export useful responses to Docs before clearing history.
• Assuming Keep Activity off means instant deletion. Google may still hold conversations for up to 72 hours to provide the service.

How to export a Gemini chat before deleting it

Before clearing your history, save anything useful. Gemini’s built-in export options work per response rather than for a whole conversation at once.

Export a response to Google Docs

1. Open the chat.
2. Under the response you want to keep, click Share & export.
3. Select Export to Docs.
4. A new Google Doc opens in your Drive with the response.

Draft in Gmail

Choose Share & export → Draft in Gmail to create an email draft containing the response — handy for sending an AI-drafted reply after you’ve edited it.

Copy the response

Click the Copy icon under a response and paste it into any document or notes app.

Share a public link

Use Share to create a public link to the chat. Anyone with the link can view it, so only use this for non-sensitive content, and delete the link when you no longer need it.

Download all your Gemini data with Google Takeout

To keep a full archive:

1. Go to takeout.google.com.
2. Click Deselect all, then select My Activity (and choose Gemini Apps activity within it if offered).
3. Choose your export format and delivery method.
4. Create the export and download the file when Google emails you.

Third-party browser extensions can export whole Gemini conversations as PDF or Markdown. Be careful: extensions can read what’s on your screen, so only use well-reviewed ones and never on a work account without permission.

How to rename or pin Gemini chats

If your goal is organisation rather than deletion:

• Rename: hover over a chat → More → Rename.
• Pin: hover over a chat → More → Pin to keep it at the top.
• Search: click the Search icon to find a past chat by keyword.

Gemini chats on work or school accounts

If you use Gemini with a Google Workspace account, your administrator decides whether activity is kept, for how long, and whether you can delete it. Workspace versions of Gemini also follow your organisation’s data protection terms. If you can’t find the delete or activity options, contact your IT administrator.

Privacy tips for small businesses using Gemini

1. Use a business account. Gemini in Google Workspace offers stronger enterprise data protection than personal accounts.
2. Don’t paste sensitive data — customer personal details, payment information, passwords or confidential contracts — into consumer AI tools.
3. Set auto-delete to 3 months on personal accounts used for work tasks.
4. Review Saved info occasionally so Gemini doesn’t remember outdated or sensitive details.
5. Write an AI use policy so staff know which tools are approved and what they can share.

For comparisons with other assistants, see Copilot vs ChatGPT and Claude vs ChatGPT. If you’re also cleaning up other AI tools, read how to cancel a ChatGPT subscription.

How to delete Gemini chats: frequently asked questions

How do I delete my Gemini chat history?

Go to gemini.google.com → Settings & help → Activity → Delete → All time. To delete a single chat, use the three-dot menu next to it and choose Delete.

Are deleted Gemini chats gone forever?

They’re removed from your Gemini Apps Activity. However, conversations that were selected for human review may be stored separately for longer, according to Google’s privacy notice, and exported copies remain wherever you saved them.

Can I delete multiple Gemini chats at once?

Not by selecting several chats in the list. Use the Activity page to delete by time range — last hour, last day, a custom range or all time.

How do I export a Gemini chat?

Use Share & export under a response to export it to Google Docs or draft it in Gmail, copy the text, or download all your activity with Google Takeout.

Why can’t I see my old Gemini chats?

Keep Activity may be turned off, auto-delete may have removed them, you may be signed in to a different Google account, or your Workspace administrator may control activity settings.

Does turning off Keep Activity delete my existing chats?

Not automatically. Google gives you the option to delete existing activity when you turn it off; otherwise, your past activity remains until you delete it or it’s removed by auto-delete.

How to delete Gemini chats: the bottom line

Deleting Gemini chats is simple once you know where to look: use the three-dot menu for single chats, the Activity page for bulk deletion, and auto-delete or Keep Activity to control what’s saved in future. Export anything important to Google Docs or Takeout first, and remember that the safest approach is not to share sensitive information with any AI chatbot in the first place.

Related reading

• Copilot vs ChatGPT: Which Is Better for Small Businesses?
• Claude vs ChatGPT: Which Is Better?
• How to Cancel Your ChatGPT Subscription
• AI vs. AI in Cybersecurity
• How to delete ChatGPT history, chats and memory

*Steps based on Google’s Gemini Apps Help pages for personal accounts, checked in September 2026. Menu names may vary slightly by device and app version.*

You can review and delete your Gemini activity at any time from Google My Activity, which is the quickest place to check how to delete Gemini chats in bulk.