OpenAI expands zero data retention, previews Private Safety Processing

OpenAI reaffirmed Zero Data Retention (ZDR) for eligible API customers, meaning their data is not stored after processing. It also previewed Private Safety Processing, an approach intended to let OpenAI run safety checks without retaining or exposing customer data.

Why it matters: This comes right after OpenAI disbanded its AI risk preparedness team and paused frontier reinforcement learning (RL) training over hacking concerns, so it reads as an attempt to reassure both privacy-sensitive enterprise customers and safety critics at once. It highlights a real tension in the industry: safety monitoring usually needs visibility into usage, and vendors are now racing to claim they can offer both privacy and oversight.