By Jim Hallenbeck, President & CEO, Black Hills AI
There’s a question I hear more often now than at any point in my career: Where does my data go, and how do IP AI tools handle data privacy and security? It’s the right question to ask, and as innovative artificial intelligence (AI) solutions and tools proliferate across the legal industry, IP professionals are being asked to feed sensitive information, patent applications, prosecution strategies, client inventions, and trade secrets into systems they don’t fully understand and, in many cases, trust. Increasingly, they’re discovering that the convenience comes with a cost they never agreed to pay. While embracing this technology is critical to adapting to modern and future times, it should never come at the expense of data privacy and security.
With Black Hills AI, it doesn’t have to. Our innovative tool boasts zero data retention and on-shore data storage to ensure impenetrable IP AI data privacy and security that generic tools simply can’t offer. Just as importantly, we are former IP attorneys who understand the unique conditions and regulations of the patent industry, meaning we made the tool we wish we had when we were in your shoes.
How Do IP AI Tools Handle Data Privacy and Security? Why On-Shore & Zero Data Retention Matter for IP AI Data Security
When you deal with sensitive information that holds the financial future of your organization, whether you’re an IP law firm or a corporation with a large IP portfolio, you should be able to rest assured that your data isn’t used as training material.
Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. Here’s what to know about IP AI and data privacy, and what puts our cutting-edge tool, Otto IP™, in a league of its own.
Related Article: How to Achieve AI Consistency for IP Solutions in 3 Steps
The Hidden Bargain
Many popular AI tools operate on a simple exchange: you get powerful capabilities, and in return, your inputs help improve the model.
One of the most important IP AI data security best practices to understand is that your data should never be used as training material.
However, with many generic tools, your queries, your documents, and your data become part of a vast training corpus that makes the system smarter for everyone. For consumer applications, that might be an acceptable trade-off.
For intellectual property work, however, it’s a non-starter. When you’re handling pre-publication patent applications, confidential invention disclosures, or sensitive prosecution arguments, the stakes are too high, and this creates unacceptable IP AI data privacy risks.
The moment that information enters a training pipeline, you’ve lost control of it. It could surface in unexpected ways, inform outputs for competitors, or simply exist in a system you can’t audit or govern.
Related Article: Addressing 5 Key AI Security Concerns When Adopting IP Solutions for Confidential Work
The Export Control Question: Why On-Shore Management Matters
Beyond the confidentiality concerns, there’s a regulatory dimension that many firms underestimate: U.S. technology export control laws. This is another key consideration when addressing data security with IP AI solutions.
When sensitive technical information crosses borders, whether physically or digitally, it can trigger compliance obligations under export control regulations.
Sending patent data to offshore processing centers, or routing it through AI systems with infrastructure in foreign jurisdictions, creates complexity that most IP departments aren’t equipped to manage.
The safest path is often the simplest one: keep the data on U.S. soil, processed by U.S.-based teams and systems, where the regulatory picture is clear, and the chain of custody is straightforward.
What Zero Data Retention Actually Means
“Zero-retention” has become something of a buzzword, so it’s worth being precise about what it should mean in practice, especially in the context of IP AI data privacy.
True zero-retention means your data is processed and then discarded, not stored, not logged, not used to improve algorithms, not retained for any purpose beyond completing your immediate request.
It means your patent claims don’t become training examples, which, again, is one of the most pervasive IP AI data privacy concerns. Your prosecution strategies don’t inform future model outputs. Your client’s inventions remain yours alone.
This isn’t just a technical configuration. It’s a fundamental commitment about whose interests the technology serves.
Trust as Infrastructure
Infrastructure and trust are also key to answering the question, How do IP AI models handle data privacy and security? When we built our AI tools at Black Hills AI, we made deliberate choices about data handling—not because regulations required it, but because we understand what’s at stake for our clients.
Our team is U.S.-based. Our systems are designed around the principle that your data belongs to you, period. We don’t use client information to train our models. We don’t retain what we don’t need. We’ve built our infrastructure to eliminate the ambiguity that makes general counsel nervous.
In a world where AI capabilities are increasingly commoditized, this is what separates tools built for IP professionals from tools adapted for them as an afterthought.
Our cutting-edge IP AI tool, Otto IP™, offers enterprise-grade AI data and security to revolutionize your patent workflow, protect your assets, and shed administrative burdens:
- State-of-the-art encryption technology
- No data used for AI model training
- Zero-retention APIs for complete data cloud sandboxing
- No third-party data storage or monitoring
This is our guarantee to you.
The Questions to Ask to Ensure IP AI Data Security and Zero Data Retention
If you’re evaluating AI tools for your IP practice, or reconsidering the ones you already use, it’s critical to understand the answer to the question, How do IP AI tools handle data privacy and security? To determine which tools are up to the standard you and your firm or company deserve, there are several questions you can ask:
- Where is my data processed, and by whom?
- Is any of it used for model training or improvement?
- What happens to my inputs after the task is complete?
- Can I get clear, written commitments about data handling?
- Does using this tool create export control exposure?
If a vendor can’t answer these questions clearly, that tells you something important, and it’s time to move on to more reputable partners.
Partner with Black Hills AI to Get the IP AI Data Privacy and Security You Deserve
So, how do IP AI tools handle data privacy and security? The answer depends on the caliber of the tool in question. Generic tools made by software vendors who have never so much as managed a portfolio often use open-source models that expose your organization to risk. Premier generative AI tools like Otto IP™, on the other hand, boast on-shore storage and zero data retention, so your data is never shared with third parties. The AI revolution in IP isn’t slowing down, and it shouldn’t. These tools make our work faster, more accurate, and more valuable. But adopting them doesn’t mean abandoning the principles that define professional practice.
This is why on-shore management and zero data retention aren’t just luxuries for AI data privacy and security solutions – they are basic requirements to reduce risk while scaling growth. You can have powerful AI and rigorous data protection. You can have automation and confidentiality. You can embrace innovation while keeping your clients’ trust intact. You just have to choose partners who understand that your data isn’t training material; it’s the foundation of your practice.
Schedule a demo to learn how our innovative IP tool can be the engine that drives your growth while ensuring generative AI data security.