Claude or ChatGPT in business: how do they compare on security for a leadership team?

01The answer in plain terms

“Claude or ChatGPT” is the wrong question for a leadership team. Both tools come from vendors that sell several tiers of offer. The tier changes the risk more than the name of the tool does.

On the point executives worry about first, the reuse of their data to train models, both vendors publish the same rule of principle for their business offers.

• Anthropic. By default, the vendor does not use the inputs or outputs of its commercial products (Claude for Work, the Anthropic API, Claude Gov) to train its models. Data is used for training only if the customer explicitly consents, for example by flagging a response with the thumbs button or by joining the Development Partner Program.
• OpenAI. By default, the vendor does not use data from ChatGPT Enterprise, Business and Edu, from its other enterprise offers or from the API platform, inputs and outputs alike, to train or improve its models. The organization’s data stays confidential and belongs to it. Models are improved only on explicit opt-in, through the API dashboard.

Personal accounts fall under a separate regime. Anthropic’s official page states this for its consumer plans (Free, Pro, Max). The commitment OpenAI describes covers its business offers and its API platform. A personal account therefore does not automatically benefit from these commitments. The terms that apply to it must be read.

02Why this is a leadership team issue

Choosing an AI model means deciding where the company’s information goes. The question therefore reaches the leadership team, for five reasons.

• Confidentiality. Strategy, figures, client files, ongoing negotiations. Everything typed into an AI tool leaves the company’s usual perimeter. You need to know who can access it.
• Non-training. Can the data entered be used to train the model? It is the question asked first, but it is not enough. For business offers, the default answer is no at both vendors.
• Hosting and transfers. Where is the data processed, and by which entity? Processing outside the European Union is a transfer, and it must be covered by a safeguard.
• GDPR. Personal data entered in the tool, whether about clients, employees or candidates, falls within the scope of the regulation.
• Hallucinations. A model can produce a wrong answer, delivered with confidence. Data protection changes nothing here. It is a decision risk, not a leak risk.

These issues engage the responsibility of the company, not that of the vendor alone. The GDPR applies as soon as an AI system processes personal data (name, email, IP address, image, voice), and the company remains the controller. Choosing a well-known provider does not transfer that responsibility.

Finally, there is an organizational issue. The commitments of the business offer only protect the people who actually use it. An employee who pastes a document into a personal account steps outside the company’s contractual framework. This is shadow AI, and the choice of tool does not solve it.

03The five criteria to examine

Here is a short grid that applies to Claude, to ChatGPT or to any other tool. It does not rank tools. It lets you check that a specific tool, in a specific offer, meets the company’s requirements.

Work through these criteria in this order. The first three are questions of contract and configuration. The last two are questions of organization, and they are the ones that fail most often in practice.

04What the non-training commitment does not settle

Non-training is a commitment by the vendor about one specific use of data. It answers only part of the confidentiality question.

• It does not say whether you are entitled to enter that data. Personal data entered without a legal basis remains a problem under the GDPR, whatever the tool.
• It does not say where the data is processed, or under which transfer safeguard.
• It says nothing about the accuracy of the answers. A tool can retain nothing of your data and still be wrong.
• It does not replace an internal rule. If employees use personal accounts, the commitments of the business offer are not theirs to rely on.

05Common mistakes

• Comparing offers of different tiers. Setting one vendor’s business offer against the other’s free account distorts the comparison in both directions.
• Confusing non-training with compliance. The first is a commitment by the vendor. The second is an obligation of the company.
• Choosing on reputation or on a performance ranking. A model’s performance on a task says nothing about its contractual framework or about control over your data.
• Reading the terms once and never again. Offers and their terms change. A regular review of the vendors’ official pages is part of the usage framework.
• Banning without offering an alternative. When the approved tool is missing, usage moves to personal accounts, outside the company’s framework.

06What WYP does, and what it does not do

WYP.agency is a strategy consulting firm for executives, leadership teams and boards. WYP does not sell AI tools and remains independent of the vendors. That independence makes it possible to compare Claude, ChatGPT and the others with no commercial stake.

The method is to cross several AI models, including Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Mistral and Grok. We compare the answers, cross-check them, and look for blind spots and contradictions. Then a person reviews and signs. When two models diverge on a point, the divergence shows where to check. That is what makes a decision more reliable, rather than trust placed in a single tool.

In Le Cadrage IA, a fixed-scope package of €2,900 excl. VAT delivered in 10 working days, WYP audits real usage, writes an AI policy, validates a tool and presents everything to the leadership team. The comparison between vendor offers is one element of the file, not its purpose.

WYP does not give legal advice and does not replace your data protection officer or your counsel. WYP does not resell licences or subscriptions. The final contractual check stays on your side.

07Where to start

• List the tools and accounts actually used in the company, official or not.
• For each one, identify the offer: business, API or personal. This is where the data regime is decided.
• Reread each vendor’s official pages, Anthropic’s Privacy Center and OpenAI’s Business data privacy page. Note what applies by default and what applies on opt-in.
• Write the rules: which data, which accounts, who reviews the outputs.
• Name the person who reviews and signs.

To place your organization quickly, start with the AI maturity diagnostic, which is free. The terms used on this page, shadow AI, hallucination, usage discipline, are defined in the AI glossary. If you want a written framework and a validated tool for your leadership team, the Le Cadrage IA offer covers it.