Is Perplexity AI safe to use?
AI-powered search engine. Answers questions with cited sources. Combines search results with AI-generated summaries.
Last reviewed: 21 July 2026
Does Perplexity AI train on what you type?
Yes, unless you switch it off — and you can.
Can you turn Perplexity AI's training off?
Settings → AI Data Usage / AI Data Retention controls → turn off use of your data for AI model training. Enterprise data is excluded by default; API data follows the API privacy/security commitments. Use deletion/export/privacy requests for existing account data.
Is what you put into Perplexity AI private?
Perplexity collects queries, conversation data, uploaded documents, device/usage data, and (for Comet and connected features) relevant browsing or connected-service data. Enterprise and API offerings are handled separately and Enterprise data is not used for AI training. For Free, Pro, and Max, AI Data Retention is enabled by default, but users can control whether their data is used for AI model training.
So, is Perplexity AI safe to use?
Generally, yes. We currently rate Perplexity AI "Generally Safe" (privacy risk: Medium), based on how it handles the data covered above.
The Tinkerer's take
“It cites its sources. I respect that. The privacy stance is middling but the transparency is better than most.”
— The Tinkerer
The official documents behind this review
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Wondering how we decide these ratings? Read how we review AI privacy.
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