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What is Zero Data Retention?

Zero Data Retention (ZDR) is a privacy and security approach where a service does not store your content after it has been processed to complete your request. Your content might include things like text you submit, documents you upload, or information you provide in a workflow. With ZDR, that content is used to generate the result you asked for and then is not kept by the provider for later viewing, reuse, or analysis.

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What does Zero Data Retention mean for your data?

When ZDR is enabled, your content is handled only long enough to deliver the requested output. After processing, the service is designed so that your content is not saved to long-term storage (for example, it isn’t stored in a database or retained as a historical record tied to your account). This reduces the amount of sensitive information that exists within a vendor’s environment over time.

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Why is Zero Data Retention important?

ZDR reduces risk by limiting how much data is available to be exposed later. If content is not stored, there is less sensitive information “at rest” in the provider’s systems—meaning less data that could be accessed inappropriately, leaked due to misconfiguration, or obtained in a security incident. It also helps align with confidentiality expectations when you’re sharing personal, financial, or proprietary information.

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Hazel’s stance on Zero Data Retention

Hazel is designed with meeting retention controls that let you decide whether to record, store, or delete data such as video, audio, transcripts, and meeting summaries. Hazel also supports a privacy-first approach to AI: your data is not used to train AI models, and you can request deletion at any time. For AI processing, Hazel has partnered with leading AI providers (including OpenAI and Anthropic) under zero data retention. Hazel uses zero data retention handling where AI subprocessors delete data immediately after first use, keep it only for the minimum time needed to complete processing, and do not use it for model training. For meeting recordings and transcripts, Hazel aims to avoid long-term storage where it isn’t needed, while acknowledging that audio/video files may be briefly stored by transcription partners only to ensure reliable processing, and then promptly deleted.