Anonymous AI and Private AI Are Not the Same: Here Is the Difference

A common misconception conflates two distinct AI privacy properties: whether a provider can read your prompt (content) and whether they can identify who sent it (identity). Private AI addresses the content axis, meaning the provider cannot access your plaintext due to technical or contractual restrictions. Anonymous AI addresses the identity axis, allowing a provider to read your message while having no way to link it to you personally. Most mainstream AI services fall into the category where both your identity and your content are visible to the provider. Understanding which property a service actually offers matters greatly depending on the user's threat model — a journalist, for instance, prioritizes unlinkability, while a developer sharing sensitive data prioritizes content privacy.