Is Perplexity Safe? Privacy for Legal Teams

Is Perplexity Safe for Legal Research?

Yes, Perplexity is suitable for finding public material when your question reveals no confidential client information. Searching for a published judgment differs from describing your client’s unreported allegations. A company name combined with a planned claim can disclose information even when each search term looks ordinary.

For example, a hypothetical litigator can search for public reporting about directors’ duties without naming a client. Adding the client’s company and the suspected diversion of funds exposes the connection the lawyer is investigating. Keep that connection inside your firm’s approved systems.

Treat Perplexity’s answers as leads to original sources. Open the judgment or legislation before using it in advice. Privacy controls govern how the provider handles your question, while source checking determines whether the answer supports your work.

What Perplexity Keeps

Perplexity processes your questions and uploaded documents, as well as the responses it generates. Its privacy notice also covers content metadata and usage information. The notice allows overseas processing, including in the United States, and retention for its stated purposes or legal requirements.

For Free, Pro and Max accounts, the AI data retention setting is on by default. Perplexity’s data collection guidance says this permits collection for model training. Open Account settings, select Preferences and turn the setting off. Confirm that it remains off before your next research session.

The opt-out applies to data collected afterwards. Perplexity says previously collected training data cannot be removed. Switching training off still allows processing to operate the service, so it does not make a personal account a confidential matter workspace.

Perplexity’s retention guidance says personal information stays while the account is active. Account deletion removes personal information from its servers within 30 days. The privacy notice separately allows longer retention where law requires or permits it.

According to its file-upload guidance, session files are retained for 30 days on personal plans. Files in Projects and personal repositories remain until deleted under their retention policies. Earlier answers can retain a file’s context after the file expires. Making a session public can also expose its attachments to anyone with the link.

The Comet Browser

Comet is unsuitable as an unrestricted assistant in a browser profile logged into client systems. Keep public research in a separate profile without client-portal sessions or connected matter accounts. This limits what the assistant can reach if it follows an unwanted instruction.

Perplexity’s Privacy Snapshot explanation says an assistant question can transfer the current tab and relevant browsing history to its servers. It also provides settings for the assistant’s access. Locally stored passwords do not prevent the assistant from encountering confidential content on a page where you are already signed in.

Brave’s published Comet security research demonstrated instructions hidden in webpage content directing the assistant to read a signed-in email account and disclose a login code. This is prompt injection: material the assistant reads attempts to become instructions it obeys. The published demonstration establishes an attack route, without proving that the same exploit works in every later version.

For legal staff, a client portal containing financial records presents the same practical access concern. Restrict assistant access to sensitive sites and keep browser software updated. Training opt-outs cannot stop an agent from taking an unwanted action through an authorised session.

Perplexity Enterprise

Perplexity Enterprise changes both the training commitment and the available retention controls. Its Enterprise terms prohibit Perplexity and authorised third parties from using customer content to train or improve generative AI models. Those terms also incorporate a data processing addendum and confidentiality obligations.

The Enterprise retention documentation distinguishes session attachments from persistent files. Session attachments are automatically deleted after seven days. My Files and Projects follow their own retention policies. Custom session retention requires at least 50 organisation seats or one Enterprise Max user.

An administrator sets session retention under Organisation Settings, then Data and privacy. The period runs from the session’s last activity, so a follow-up question resets it. Sessions created before a user joined the organisation are excluded from that policy.

Before allowing client facts, document the approved Enterprise profile and the retention rules covering each file location. Set sharing restrictions and separately limit Comet’s access to authenticated systems. Keep public-only research as the permitted use until your firm has approved those controls for the matter information involved.