Zero data retention and zero-day retention in AI note takers

The short answer

Zero data retention is an agreement under which the AI model provider behind a note taker does not store, train on or reuse the content it processes, while zero-day retention is a setting in a note taker that deletes recordings and transcripts after processing; the first governs a vendor’s suppliers and the second governs what the vendor itself keeps.

The two terms are easy to confuse because a vendor can offer either, both or neither. A note taker with zero-day retention can still send call content to a model provider that retains it, and a note taker with zero data retention agreements can still keep recordings for as long as the customer’s settings allow.

Junior has signed zero data retention agreements with every underlying model provider and gives firms separate retention control for audio, verbatim transcript, cleaned transcript and summary. Both are basics under Junior’s compliance product, where compliance sets the rules once and every call is screened.

What zero data retention covers

A zero data retention agreement is a contract between a note taker vendor and an AI model provider, under which content sent for processing is not retained after the request and is not used to train the provider’s models.

The customer is rarely a party to that contract, so the commitment is only as visible as the vendor makes it. A compliance team can ask for the clause in the data processing agreement, for the list of model providers it covers, and for confirmation that it applies to every plan rather than one tier.

Junior describes its position as zero data retention agreements with all underlying model providers, so that customer data is never stored, trained on or reused in any way. Fellow’s pages reviewed on 11 November 2026 state that Fellow never trains its models on customer meeting data; they do not say whether Fellow holds zero data retention agreements with its model providers, which is a question to put to any vendor.

What zero-day retention covers

Zero-day retention is a data policy offered by some AI note takers that deletes raw recordings and transcripts once AI processing is complete, typically within minutes of the call ending, while the generated summaries stay on their own schedule.

Fellow publishes this option for its Enterprise plans and describes it as a data minimisation control within a wider compliance setup. Fellow’s own private equity guide states that because summaries are kept, zero-day is not zero retention, and that with zero-day transcripts the verbatim transcript is not archived to Global Relay.

The practical effect is a smaller body of verbatim material that could be requested in a dispute or an exam, together with the loss of the recording as a source to check a summary against.

The two terms side by side

Setting the terms in a table shows that they answer different questions, which is why a vendor can truthfully claim one and say nothing about the other.

How Junior handles retention

In Junior, retention is one of the rules compliance sets once, alongside what gets recorded, what gets flagged and who can see it. Zero data retention agreements with every model provider sit underneath.

Recording rules by meeting type mean restricted meetings are never recorded, and retention follows the call type. A firm sets retention separately for audio, verbatim transcript, cleaned transcript and summary, so compliance can keep a summary for institutional memory while deleting the audio on a shorter schedule.

Every call is screened for MNPI and the firm’s own policies, compliance reviews findings rather than calls, ethical walls control who can see what, and every flag, decision and change is kept in the audit trail.

The basics sit underneath. Junior stores call data on its own infrastructure, never uses calls to train a model, and is SOC 2 Type II certified.

Questions to ask any vendor

These questions separate the two controls and bring the contract language to the surface before a deployment decision.

• Which AI model providers process our call content, and is there a zero data retention agreement with each of them?
• Does the agreement apply to every plan, or only to one tier?
• Can we set retention separately for audio, transcript and summary?
• What remains after a deletion runs, and where is it stored?
• Which archives receive a transcript when retention is set to zero days?
• Where in the data processing agreement are these commitments written?

No single setting settles a firm’s recordkeeping obligations, and the decision on what to keep belongs with compliance and counsel.

Common questions