AI Startup Privacy Counsel in San Francisco
Training data, AI vendor terms, and customer questions about where their data goes are handled by one senior privacy lawyer.
Privacy decisions you make early in an AI product
Building an AI product means making privacy choices early: which data goes into a model or vendor tool, what the product tells users, and what an enterprise customer needs to see before signing. Stealth Legal helps San Francisco founders turn those choices into practical notices, contracts, and review steps.
We serve San Francisco startups remotely from Sacramento and meet in person when it helps.
What AI privacy work covers
-
An AI feature can take in data from user prompts, customer uploads, support logs, or third-party datasets. Each source raises its own questions: who supplied the data, what was promised about retention or training, and which vendors can see it. We start by mapping what actually happens to the data.
-
Data used to train or fine-tune a model can follow a different path from data used when the product runs, stored in logs, or reviewed by a person. We review how your product collects and uses personal information and help you decide what to document before launch or a major change.
-
What an AI vendor can do with the data you send it, and what you promise enterprise customers about that same data, need to align. We review DPAs and service terms covering access, use, retention, sub-processors, and deletion.
-
A privacy policy that describes what your AI features actually do, written to match your product and your vendor terms.
When San Francisco AI Founders call us
Often a customer is asking whether their data reaches a third-party model, whether the model vendor keeps prompts, or what your DPA says. Sometimes it's a launch, when a new AI feature is about to ship and the privacy policy hasn't caught up. Either way, it's easier to get the answers straight before promising anything to a customer.
How it works
It starts with a free call about your product, your data flows, and the decision in front of you. From there, we scope the work and quote a flat fee before anything begins. You work directly with principal counsel throughout.
Example: Illustrative example (not a client matter): A San Francisco startup adds an AI assistant to its B2B product. A customer asks whether uploaded files reach a third-party model, whether the model vendor can keep prompts, and what the DPA says. The team maps how uploads and prompts move through the product, checks the vendor's terms against its own customer commitments, and updates its notices and contract language before answering. The facts of any real matter will differ.
If California privacy law is your main question, see our CCPA/CPRA counsel for San Francisco startups.
Stealth Legal is a startup law firm focused on technology transactions and data privacy. We've worked in private practice and in-house, so our advice is built around how a growing company actually operates. Our privacy work spans the CCPA, CPRA, GDPR, and AI data questions, and we write regularly about emerging privacy risks for startups.
About Stealth Legal
Frequently Asked Questions
-
Not automatically. Whether the law applies depends on the company's role and whether it meets the statutory criteria, and separate contract or service-provider obligations may also come into play. We look at the facts on the first call.
-
It depends on where the data came from, what you promised customers, your contracts and vendor settings, and the laws that apply. It's worth reviewing those before making a claim to customers or using data for a new purpose.
-
Start with what data it receives, how it's allowed to use that data, retention and deletion terms, sub-processors, security commitments, and whether the terms match what you've promised your own customers.
-
Our office is in Sacramento. We serve San Francisco startups remotely and meet in person when it helps.
Let’s Work TogetherTell us a little about your product and what's prompting the question. We'll follow up to schedule a free consultation.