Backfrom OpenAI’s own policies · verified 2026-09-02
OpenAI: data residency & retention
Headquarters
🇺🇸 United States (US)
Where inference runs
US, EU, Other
In-region inference is available for US, Europe, and UAE via regional projects (e.g. eu.api.openai.com); without a regional project, processing defaults to OpenAI's global, US-centric infrastructure.
Region pinning
Yes, self-serve
Eligible API customers select a region when creating a new project in the dashboard (existing projects cannot be migrated); non-US regions require OpenAI approval for modified abuse-monitoring retention.
Prompt retention
Retained · 30 days
By default API prompts and responses are kept in abuse-monitoring logs for up to 30 days, unless longer retention is required by law.
Trains on API data
No
Since March 2023, data sent to the OpenAI API is not used to train models unless the customer explicitly opts in.
Zero data retention
Available
Zero Data Retention requires prior approval and applies only to eligible endpoints; stateful endpoints like Assistants remain ineligible. Eligible European residency projects get ZDR by default.
Compiled from OpenAI’s published privacy policy, terms, and documentation on 2026-09-02. “Not disclosed” means OpenAI publishes nothing on the point. Policies change without notice, so verify against the sources above before relying on this for compliance decisions.