Training-Data Settings in Free Chatbots: Meta AI, DeepSeek and Duck.ai

Free chatbots differ most in what happens to the text you paste in. Zapier’s 2026 notes give a clear picture for three products: Meta AI has no easy way to opt out of training, DeepSeek’s original app may have privacy issues, and Duck.ai strips identifying metadata before a prompt reaches the model providers. None of these is a guarantee, so the settings and the terms still need your attention before you share anything private.

Meta AI: no easy opt-out

Zapier’s privacy notes list “no easy way to disable sharing your data for model training” as a con for Meta AI. The same review describes Meta AI as a standalone web and mobile app that can also run inside WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook, and says that logging in with a Facebook or Instagram account saves your chat history.

For a buyer, the practical reading is that a training opt-out is not an easy setting to find in Meta AI, according to Zapier. Use Meta AI for questions where a leaked prompt would not matter, and keep anything client-related or personal in a product where you can confirm the setting.

DeepSeek: the app and the open models

Zapier’s notes on DeepSeek are more nuanced, and they are worth quoting carefully. Its recorded con is that using the original app “may have data privacy issues”. It also says the app is hosted in China, and it adds that the reviewer will leave the judgment on that to the reader.

The same notes record some reassurance. The app has terms of use and a privacy policy, and it includes an option to disable sharing your data for model training, which sits in the settings. Zapier points out that the models are open source, so you can host them yourself on infrastructure you control. That route gives more control, and it also takes more work.

Duck.ai: anonymised routing

Duck.ai is the product in this group with the most specific claim. Zapier says it strips your IP address and other identifying metadata before prompts reach OpenAI, Anthropic or Meta, so those companies see the request come from DuckDuckGo rather than from you. It also says the app does not need opt-out toggles, because the protection is the default.

Zapier describes the contracts behind the service too. It says the AI providers have to delete the information they receive once it is no longer needed to produce the output, and no later than 30 days. It also describes chat history as optional, and stored on your device rather than on DuckDuckGo’s servers.

The limit is just as clear. Zapier warns that any personal data you write into a prompt will still be visible to DuckDuckGo and to the AI providers. Anonymised routing hides who sent the request, not what the request says.

Comparison in one view

How to use this in practice

Sort your prompts before you open any of these products. Anything that names a client, a patient, a student or an unreleased product belongs in a tool where you have checked the data terms. Anything generic can go into a free chatbot, with the understanding that the answer will not stay private if you paste in identifying details.

If you use DeepSeek’s open models, the self-hosted route is the one Zapier points to for privacy. If you use the app, read its current terms before any work that carries data you cannot share publicly.

Checklist before you paste

1. Remove names, identifiers and confidential figures from the prompt.
2. Find the training setting in the product’s settings, and record where it is.
3. Read the privacy policy and terms of the version you use, since the app and the open models may differ.
4. Keep a dated note of the settings you checked.

What this guide cannot establish

It does not say whether any product actually uses your data for training, because the sources we checked describe settings and policies and do not audit practice. It does not give a legal view of how data is handled across borders. It does not rank the products on privacy, and it is not a substitute for reading each product’s current policy.