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Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 28, 2026

In plain language

  • We collect only what we need: your email, name, and basic usage data.
  • We offer a changing variety of models with different privacy and value affordances — some run in encrypted enclaves we cannot read, others differ. You are responsible for assessing each model's properties and picking the one that fits your needs.
  • We do store your chat history on our server (so you can revisit it). We promise not to read it, but this is a promise, not a technical guarantee. Temporary chats are the exception: nothing is stored at all, and you can make them your default — see §4 if you'd like sensitive conversations to leave nothing behind.
  • We never train on your data, and we never sell it.
  • You can export or delete your data at any time.

The full policy is below. Questions? info@inference.coop.

1. Our privacy philosophy

The Inference Cooperative is a member-governed project. We are not an ad-supported or data-extractive business — we have no incentive to read or sell your data. Privacy is a structural value, built into how we operate.

2. What we collect

  • Account data: your email and name (from Open Collective).
  • Membership data: your contribution status and role.
  • Usage data: token counts, model used, and timestamps (for metering your monthly budget).
  • Content: your prompts and the AI's responses. Whether we keep them depends on how you use the service: in the chat interface they are saved as your chat history, while through the API they are not stored at all. See §4.
  • Billing data: handled by Open Collective — we do not see full payment details.

3. Privacy depends on the model you choose

We serve a changing catalog of models from multiple providers, and they do not all offer the same privacy. Models differ in their affordances — some run inference inside encrypted enclaves (TEEs) where inputs and outputs are not readable in plaintext at the inference step; others are selected for renewable energy, openness, or cost rather than architectural privacy. The set of available models, and their properties, will change as members decide.

You are responsible for assessing each model's privacy and value properties and choosing the one that fits your needs. As a rule of thumb:

  • Some models run inference in encrypted enclaves, verifiable through remote attestation — a property of the system, not a promise.
  • Other models are processed in the clear under their provider's own terms and data-processing agreement.

We never read or sell your data regardless of model — but the architectural guarantee applies only to models that offer it. Check the current model catalog and each provider's terms before relying on a particular model for sensitive material.

4. What we can see (an honest caveat)

Your chat history is stored on our server so you can revisit past conversations. Stored chat history is not encrypted in a way that prevents us from technically reading it, regardless of which model generated it.

We commit not to read it. But this is a policy commitment, not an architectural guarantee. We're transparent about this distinction because it matters.

Note the boundary precisely: enclave models protect your conversation while it is being processed — the model provider and we cannot read the exchange at inference time. Stored history is a separate leg: once a conversation is saved, it sits on our server in a form we can technically read. So for sensitive material, the strongest combination available today is a Temporary Chat with an enclave model — protected in transit and at inference, and never stored afterwards.

If you use the API, nothing you send is stored

This is the part that surprises people, so it is worth stating plainly. If you call the co-op's API with your own key and your own client, there is no conversation on our side to save. Our gateway records that a request happened and what it cost: the model, the token counts, the cost, and which key made the request. It does not record what you asked or what came back.

We measured this rather than asserting it. A request with a distinctive marker was sent through the gateway and then searched for: it appears nowhere in the gateway's logs, the gateway's configuration enables no content logging, and the request records themselves carry usage fields only. So the API path keeps no text.

Two boundaries on that statement, because it would be easy to read it as more than it is:

  • We can still tell that a given key made a request, and therefore which member it belongs to. That link is how metering works — it is not something we hide.
  • "Not stored by us" is not the same as "not stored." The provider's handling is a separate question from ours, and it depends on the model you choose — see §3. Not being stored on our side says nothing about the far end of the request.

The chat has a Temporary Chat mode designed exactly for this:

  • Click the Temporary Chat toggle in the chat header, and the conversation is never saved — it doesn't appear in your history, it isn't written to our database, and it disappears when you leave the page.
  • To make this the default for every new conversation, open Settings → Conversations and enable Default Temporary Chat. The preference is stored in your browser, so it's yours to change at any time.
  • The trade-off is that there's nothing to revisit: no history, no search, no sync across devices. Use it whenever that trade is right for you — you can mix saved and temporary conversations freely.

Temporary chats change what we store, not who processes your request: the model you choose still receives your messages to generate a reply, under the properties described in §3.

Operational logs

Our server software keeps standard operational logs (dates, error messages, and — for account management like provisioning and welcome emails — the email addresses involved). These logs exist to run and debug the service, are kept briefly, and are not used to profile members.

Web search runs through our self-hosted search instance. Search queries are forwarded to the underlying search engines (e.g. DuckDuckGo), which may see them. This is inherent to how web search works.

6. What we do NOT do

  • We do not train models on your data.
  • We do not sell, rent, or share your data.
  • We do not use your data for advertising or profiling.

7. Third parties

The models we serve are provided by third parties that change over time, each with its own terms and privacy posture. We never sell your data, but when you use a model, that model's provider processes your inputs under its own terms and data-processing agreement — some in encrypted enclaves, some in the clear. Review each provider's terms before relying on it for sensitive material. Our current providers are listed in the model catalog.

  • Open Collective — handles billing and membership (their own privacy policy applies).
  • Cloudron — our self-hosted platform; no third-party cloud provider.
  • Search engines — receive your search queries (see §5).

8. Retention and deletion

  • Chat history is retained until you delete it.
  • Temporary chats are never retained — they are not written to our database at all (see §4).
  • On leaving, your account is deactivated (data preserved for reactivation).
  • You may request full deletion at any time: info@inference.coop.

9. Security

  • Self-hosted on Cloudron (sandboxed apps, SSL, backups).
  • Per-member API keys; access gated on live membership.
  • No external dependencies for core infrastructure.

10. Your rights

  • Access, correct, export, and delete your data.
  • As a member, you also have governance rights over this policy itself (through Loomio).

11. Children

The service is for people 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect data from children.

12. Changes

We may update this policy as the project evolves. Material changes are announced to members and, where appropriate, decided through Loomio.

13. Contact

info@inference.coop