If you don't want your sessions used to train AI, the safest options in 2026 are Eclio (never trains, you own your data) and Nabla Copilot (no patient-data training, ~14-day retention). Avoid tools where training is on by default — including SimplePractice's Note Taker and Mentalyc — unless you actively opt out.
The short list
| Scribe | Trains on your data? | Data ownership | GDPR | Best for |
|---|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eclio | Never | You own everything | Yes | Online & nomad therapists who want zero training |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SimplePractice | Yes (opt-out) | Broad license in ToS | Partial | US EHR-first practices |
| Mentalyc | Yes | Claims rights to anonymized data | Partial | US therapists who accept training |
How to verify a "we don't train" claim
A marketing line isn't enough. Check three things:
- The Terms of Service — look for any license to "prepare derivative works" or "improve our products" using your data.
- The Privacy Policy — search for "train," "model," "machine learning."
- Default settings — opt-out-by-default means you're training their AI until you say no.
For the full landscape of tools and pricing, see Best AI therapy notes apps in 2026. For the privacy-law angle, see GDPR for therapists storing notes abroad.
Why this matters more for therapy than other fields
Therapy notes are among the most sensitive records that exist. A 2023 FTC settlement fined BetterHelp $7.8 million for mishandling mental-health data (FTC, 2023). When the data is this sensitive, "trains by default" is a meaningful risk, not a technicality.
Where Eclio stands
Eclio is built so this question never comes up: we never train any model on your data, you keep full ownership of every note, and you can delete everything permanently. A local on-device mode is in development — the first commercial AI scribe where your data never leaves your computer.