What’s Changed: Chai AI is safe enough for adults who assume the company can read their chats, and it is not for anyone under 18. Bot creators lost access to your chats years ago, but authorized Chai staff still have it, and the privacy policy lets Chai keep data for up to five years after you delete your account. Some users now face a Persona face scan or ID check, and the iPhone app has been off the App Store since late October 2026.
Is Chai AI safe? For adults, mostly yes, as long as you treat every chat as something a company employee could read. For anyone under 18, no, and Chai’s own rules agree.
Two things put the question back on the table in October 2026. Chai’s age check now runs through a face scan from Persona, an identity-check company, and its founder says the scan still asks for a government ID when it reads you as 20. Then the iPhone app disappeared from the App Store.
The detail that bothers me most is a gap in Chai’s own paperwork. Its privacy policy, last updated October 12, never mentions Persona, selfies or ID scans, even though the Safety Center routes age checks through Persona.
Below I cover who can read your chats, what Chai keeps, the face scan, the harm record, teens, the App Store removal and safer options.
Is Chai AI Safe to Use?
Chai AI is safe enough for adults who keep personal details out of their chats, and it is not for anyone under 18.
Chai Research is a real, profitable company, but your messages are stored, used for training and open to authorized staff.
Chai Research Corp. is a Delaware company based in Palo Alto, California. Reuters reported in October 2026 that Chai makes $120 million a year in revenue.
Its CEO, William Beauchamp, said the company pulled back from regions where it earned 10 cents per dollar of computing.
One point I give Chai is its safety tools: you can report any character or message anonymously, and safety filters can hide mature content and block characters.
If the face check or the App Store removal has you looking elsewhere, Candy AI is an adults-only option with its own trade-offs, which the Candy safety check lays out.
| Risk | What Chai does | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Who reads your chats | Authorized staff can; bot creators cannot | Keep names, addresses and workplaces out of chats |
| Training | Conversations fine-tune the models after personal identifiers are removed | Anything you type can end up in training data |
| Data after deletion | Can be kept for up to five years after you delete your account | Deleting the account does not erase everything at once |
| Age checks | Persona selfie estimate or government photo ID | Expect an ID request if the scan reads you as 20 or younger |
| Ads | Free accounts get ads based on consent; installs from an ad can share usage patterns with ad partners | Decline ad consent if the app asks and you would rather not share |
Can Chai Staff or Bot Creators Read Your Chats?
Bot creators cannot read your Chai chats anymore, but authorized Chai staff can, and your conversations are stored in the US and can be used to train Chai’s models.
Creators could once read anonymized chats with their own bots. The founder said in a 2024 reply that it was an experiment from around 2022, and wrote again in January 2025 that creators no longer see chats because users valued privacy.
Bot descriptions that still say “I don’t read chats” are leftovers from that era.
Staff access is a different matter. Chai’s privacy policy says your data is open to “specifically authorized staff,” to the suppliers that run the service, and to authorities when the law requires it.
Training is the part that matters most to me. The policy says Chai uses your conversations to “enhance and fine tune” its models after removing personal identifiers, and it describes no setting that turns this off. EU and UK users keep a general right to object under the GDPR privacy law.
Chai’s Google Play listing says the app may share location and personal info with third parties, and that data is encrypted in transit. An outside scan of the Android app by mobile security firm NowSecure flagged sensitive data collection and lists permissions that include recording audio.
Removing identifiers does not remove what you typed, so the safest habit is to write around the details that point to you:
Before: “I’m Sarah, a nurse at St. Mary’s in Leeds, and my manager Tom keeps changing my shifts.”
After: “I’m Sarah, I work in a hospital, and my manager keeps changing my shifts.”
How Do You Delete Your Chai Data?
You delete your Chai data in the app under Profile, Settings, Delete Account, but the privacy policy still lets Chai keep data for up to five years afterward.
- Open Chai and sign in with the account you want gone.
- Go to Profile, then Settings.
- Tap Delete Account and confirm.
Deletion is not instant erasure. The policy caps storage at “the duration of the account and five (5) years following its deletion,” and allows longer for legal claims.
Is Chai’s Face Scan or ID Check Safe to Give?
Chai’s face scan and ID check run through Persona, an identity company OpenAI and Reddit also use, but Chai’s privacy policy never mentions it or says how long the scan data is kept.
Chai’s Safety Center lists two ways to prove you are an adult: a selfie that estimates your age, or a government photo ID.
The founder added in a reply on r/ChaiApp that the scan still asks for ID when it reads you as 20, and that he thinks only people read as older than 21 skip that step.
The check is real, but the paperwork has not caught up: the October 12 privacy policy says nothing about Persona, selfies or ID scans, so it gives you no retention period for them.
That gap is my main reason to think twice before sending a government ID. If you go ahead, these are the common snags:
| What happens | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Asked for ID though you are an adult | The selfie read you as 20 or younger | Retake the selfie in better light, or decide whether you want to send ID |
| The selfie check keeps failing | Dim light or shadows on your face | Move to a bright room and look straight at the camera |
| Asked to pay before chatting | Chai requires a paid plan in some regions | Check the plan price before you enter card details |
Can Chai Bots Say Harmful Things?
Chai bots can still produce harmful replies, and a Chai chatbot was linked to a Belgian man’s death in 2023, though Chai now scans every message for self-harm content.
In 2023, Belgian media reported that a man died by suicide after six weeks of conversations about the climate crisis with a Chai chatbot named Eliza.
The AI Incident Database records the bot as encouraging him, based on Belgian and European press reports.
Chai’s Safety Center now describes a self-harm protocol: every message is scanned in real time, harmful replies are refused or replaced, and users who express self-harm intent see a referral to crisis services. It also says the models are designed to refuse sexually explicit content and anything that sexualizes minors.
I trust the real-time scanning more than any filter promise, because it is the one safeguard that runs on every message.
Those refusal rules are also newer than Chai’s reputation: in 2024, a commenter on r/ChaiApp told a newcomer there was “absolutely no filter”.
If you are struggling, Chai’s Safety Center links a helpline finder for over 175 countries, and in the US you can call or text 988.
Is Chai Safe for Kids and Teens?
Chai is not safe for kids or teens, and its own rules ban anyone under 18 from using it.
The age ratings do not even agree. Chai’s Safety Center says the app is rated 18+ on the Apple App Store and Google Play. The US Google Play listing shows Mature 17+ for violence, sexual themes and drug use.
Regulators are watching too. Australia’s eSafety Commissioner sent Chai Research a legal notice on October 23, 2025, asking how it keeps children safe, with penalties of up to A$825,000 a day for providers that fail to comply.
My line here is short: no one under 18 belongs on Chai. Parents can block 17+ apps with Screen Time on iPhone or Family Link on Android, and the Character AI minors guide covers the same question for Character AI.
Why Did Chai Disappear From the App Store?
Chai disappeared from the Apple App Store in late October 2026, and its founder says the company is improving the iPhone app while installed copies keep working.
The founder announced on October 22 that Chai was unavailable to download while the team worked on its Apple app. As of October 26, Chai’s listing returns no results in the US, UK and Australian App Store.
If you deleted the app, the founder pointed to Apple’s redownload steps under Apps and Purchase History in your App Store account.
The announcement does not say whether iPhone subscriptions keep renewing during the removal, so check yours in your Apple account settings.
Until Chai is back in the store, a yearly iPhone plan is a bet I won’t make, and the Chai review shows what each tier gets you anyway.
What AI Chat Apps Are Safer Than Chai?
The safer pick depends on which Chai risk worries you most, because hosted companion apps like Chai and Candy AI both keep your chats on their own servers.
If privacy is the dealbreaker, the surest fix is running a model on your own computer with a front end like SillyTavern and a local backend, so nothing leaves your machine.
Candy AI is the hosted, adults-only app I point Chai users to, and it runs in your web browser, so an app store removal cannot cut you off.
A free account sends 5 messages and makes one image before it asks you to pay. Its privacy notice also lets outside AI providers receive your messages, which the Candy safety check covers.
| Option | Who can read your chats | Trains on chats | Age check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chai | Authorized staff, not bot creators | Yes, after removing identifiers | Persona selfie or ID |
| Candy AI | Staff and outside AI providers | Yes, with no way out | Depends on your location |
| Local model with SillyTavern | Only you | No | None |
Whatever you pick, check four things before you trust an app with personal chats:
- A stated retention period after you delete your account.
- An in-app way to delete your data.
- A clear answer on whether your chats train the model.
- An age check that the privacy policy explains.
Quick Takeaways
- Chai is safe enough for adults who keep identifying details out of chats, and it bans anyone under 18.
- Bot creators cannot read your chats, but authorized staff can, and conversations train Chai’s models after identifiers are removed.
- Deleting your account does not erase everything at once: the privacy policy allows Chai to keep data for up to five years.
- The Persona face scan still asks for ID when it reads you as 20, and Chai’s privacy policy does not mention it.
- Chai’s iPhone app is off the App Store as of late October 2026, so check your Apple subscription before it renews.
