Some of America’s most sophisticated technology companies are putting new limits on what employees can share with advanced artificial intelligence models, as concerns grow over how proprietary information is stored and protected.
Palantir Technologies, Nvidia and Booz Allen Hamilton have restricted the use of some Anthropic AI models for sensitive work. The companies are seeking stronger guarantees that confidential information, intellectual property and internal code will not be retained by outside AI providers.
The issue does not mean the companies have discovered that their confidential information was stolen or used to train another company’s AI. Instead, the dispute centers largely on data retention. Anthropic’s Fable model requires customer data to be retained for 30 days by default for safety monitoring, although the company is introducing additional protections that can allow eligible enterprise customers to keep information within their own infrastructure.
Palantir reportedly will not offer Fable through its own platform until it receives guarantees that zero-data-retention protections cannot later be revoked. Nvidia is limiting its use of Fable to less-sensitive work and relying on its own Nemotron models for some proprietary projects, while Booz Allen has restricted use of the commercial model for work involving proprietary cybersecurity software. Nvidia and Palantir recently announced a separate partnership built around keeping control and ownership of proprietary data while using AI for supply-chain operations.
The restrictions highlight a growing challenge as businesses integrate AI into everyday work. Employees can use AI to analyze documents, write software, summarize meetings and solve technical problems, but those same tasks can involve trade secrets, customer information, unreleased products or other material a company would never intentionally make public.
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The need to protect sensitive information when using AI extends well beyond large technology companies. Before putting confidential business information, private documents or valuable intellectual property into an AI system, users should understand where that information goes, how long it may be retained and what controls are available. The more capable AI becomes, the more important those questions become.
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