The best and worst AI for your privacy, ranked - and how each handles your data

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The use of generative AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini continues to change how we live and work. But do the privacy risks outweigh the convenience?

AI engines have had a cataclysmic impact on many of our lives, comparable to that of smartphones. Businesses are pouring billions of dollars into AI-related developments; it seems like almost every organization wants to project an "AI-first" image, and even in our daily queries and quests for information, AI citations are replacing the older methods we used to search.

Also: How to keep your conversations with ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, or Claude private

We're asking AI for advice before making real-world decisions, and some of us are even seeking out recommendations on our personal lives and finances.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET's parent company, filed an April 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

But how safe is the data we feed into our AI companions, and do the organizations developing today's AI platforms consider user privacy to be their responsibility? If you've ever asked these questions, new research from Incogni sheds some light on them.

Published on Thursday, data broker removal service Incogni's new research analyzes 13 AI platforms and the potential risks they pose to consumer privacy.

Also: AI cybersecurity attacks are the future: 43% of companies have already experienced it

The "Gen AI and LLM Data Privacy Ranking 2026" report looks at these AI platforms: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Vibe (formerly Le Chat), Perplexity, Qwen, DeepSeek, Z.ai, Kimi, Meta AI, Pi, and Copilot. In the study, each AI has been assigned a score "based on the privacy risks they pose," Incogni says. The lower the score, the better, as each point added reflects the discovery of privacy-invasive practices, how easy data-sharing practices are to find and understand, and what happens to user data.

Three groups of questions are addressed by the study:

Some of the largest AI platforms appear to pose the greatest risk to user privacy, except for OpenAI's ChatGPT. Gemini and Meta AI received some of the highest risk scores, whereas Vibe, ChatGPT, and Pi achieved some of the best (and lowest) risk scores in Incogni's assessment.