Whose AI Is Trained on Your Freelance Projects – and Can You Say No?
Many companies use Upwork for technical talent, Fiverr for quick creative tasks, and other platforms opportunistically. Each platform has different:
If you care about confidentiality, regulatory compliance, or simply controlling where your company's data ends up, you need to know how these platforms stack up.
| Dimension | Upwork | Fiverr | Freelancer.com | PeoplePerHour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core AI Framing | Explicit "Mindful AI" positioning. Dedicated AI Preferences page. Training "for your exclusive use" on work product and messages (Uma assistant). | "AI-powered marketplace." Fiverr Go trained on "over 6.5 billion interactions and 150 million transactions." Personal AI Assistant analyzes past interactions. | Automated decision-making for rankings and recommendations. No explicit AI policy, but broad UGC use for "analytics and improvements." | No AI-specific policy. General analytics, market research, and "service improvement" language. Messages explicitly "not private and not confidential." |
| Work Product | Used to train AI models only if both client and freelancer opt in. Prospective only (from Jan 5, 2026 onward). Toggle in AI Preferences. | Creators can train "Personal AI Creation Models" on own portfolio. Platform-wide AI draws on marketplace history; no clear way to exclude your contracts. | Most work product treated as "User Generated Content" and classified as non-personal information—outside privacy policy protections. | WorkStream attachments and project data collected for "service improvement, analytics, and market research." No AI opt-out. |
| Messages / Chat Data | Used for AI training only if both sides opt in. Communications toggle in AI Preferences. Prospective only. | Personal AI Assistant "analyzes past interactions" with clients to automate tasks and personalize suggestions. No user-facing control to exclude message content. | Messages included in UGC; majority classified as non-personal. Used for automated decision-making (rankings, matching). | "Messages are not private and are not confidential." May be used for analytics, research, and to infer data about users. |
| Historical vs Future Data | Prospective only: New AI license applies to content from Jan 5, 2026 onward. Earlier messages/work product excluded. | Fiverr Go explicitly trained on existing corpus of marketplace interactions. No public carve-out for "pre-Go" data. | No timeline distinction. Privacy policy and UGC classification apply to all past and future content. | No timeline distinction. All WorkStream data subject to analytics/research use. |
| Default Position | Opted in by default as of Jan 5, 2026 for new content. Must proactively visit AI Preferences to opt out. | No global AI toggle. AI use allowed unless buyer says "no AI" in project requirements. Burden on client. | No AI-specific default. General terms allow use of UGC for analytics, ranking, and automated systems. | No AI-specific default. Messages and data available for analytics and research by default. |
| Opt-Out & Controls | Dedicated AI Preferences page: separate toggles for (1) communications, (2) work product, (3) other platform data. Double opt-in required. | No AI preferences panel. Buyers must specify "no AI" in order instructions. Sellers may use AI if buyer doesn't object. | Standard GDPR rights (access, correction, deletion), but no AI-specific opt-out. | Standard privacy rights (access, objection, deletion). No AI toggle. |
| Third-Party Training | No third-party training. Customer data not used to train third-party models. Vendors operate under contracts that prohibit training. | Fiverr Go promoted as open platform for developers: external developers can build agents/APIs using Fiverr's dataset. | No explicit promise against third-party use. Privacy policy allows sharing with service providers and affiliates. | Uses data for "analytics and market research" and shares with service providers/affiliates. No explicit AI training limits. |
| Key "Gotcha" | Most protective terms, but default opt-in means casual users unknowingly train AI. Non-retroactive opt-out—can't "unring the bell." | Loudly markets AI trained on billions of historic interactions and opens ecosystem to external developers. Burden on buyers to say "no AI" per project. | Classifying UGC as "non-personal" is major loophole, giving platform free rein for internal models or third-party work. | "Not private and not confidential" WorkStream messages—yet platform pushes users to keep all comms there for "safety." |
| Platform | Default AI Setting | Who Must Act to Change It? |
|---|---|---|
| Upwork | Opted in (for content from Jan 5, 2026 onward) | User must opt out in AI Preferences (client and freelancer both) |
| Fiverr | AI use allowed unless buyer objects | Buyer must say "no AI" in each project's order requirements |
| Freelancer.com | UGC available for analytics/ranking by default | No AI-specific opt-out; user can only exercise general privacy rights |
| PeoplePerHour | Messages/data available for analytics/research by default | No AI toggle; standard privacy rights but no preventive control |
Pattern: None of these platforms defaults to "opt-out" or "do not train." The burden is always on the user to discover settings, read policies, and take action—if action is even possible.
Most granular controls: Dedicated AI Preferences page with separate toggles for communications, work product, and other data.
Double opt-in: Work product and messages are only used if both client and freelancer agree—unlike competitors where one party's preference dominates.
Prospective-only scope: New AI license doesn't reach back to grab historical data (before Jan 5, 2026).
No third-party training: Explicit promise that customer data won't train OpenAI's general models or be shared beyond contracted vendors.
Default opt-in: As of Jan 5, 2026, your account is opted in by default for AI training on new content. If you never visit the settings page, Upwork will use your work product and messages.
Non-retroactive opt-out: Opting out after being opted in doesn't undo training that already happened. Data shared during opt-in periods stays in the models.
Feature penalties: Upwork hints that some AI features may be unavailable or degraded if you opt out.
Bottom line for clients: Upwork is the most transparent and controllable option, but you must proactively manage settings. Don't assume privacy by default.
Fiverr Go is explicitly built on "over 6.5 billion interactions and nearly 150 million transactions" across the marketplace. Your past Fiverr projects, messages with sellers, and marketplace behavior are likely already part of the training dataset.
What this means: There's no obvious account-level switch to exclude your data from this historical corpus.
The "creator model" carve-out: Fiverr says creators can train "Personal AI Creation Models" on their own work and retain ownership. But this applies to sellers building AI-generated services, not to buyers protecting confidential project data.
Burden-shifting on AI use: Fiverr's AI guidelines put the onus on buyers to say "no AI please" in project requirements. Sellers aren't required to disclose AI tools in gig descriptions.
Fiverr Go is promoted as an "open platform for developers"—external AI developers can build agents and APIs that run on Fiverr's data infrastructure.
Risk: Your project interactions may fuel not just Fiverr's own AI, but third-party tools built on top of the platform.
Bottom line for clients: Fiverr is built for speed and volume, not confidentiality. If you use it for sensitive work, assume your data is training material and specify "no AI" in every order.
Freelancer.com's privacy policy states that the "majority of User Generated Content"—project descriptions, bids, attachments, messages—is treated as non-personal information and is not covered by the privacy policy.
Translation: Once you post a job, send a message, or upload a file, it can be used for analytics, rankings, automated decision-making, and AI training—without privacy-policy constraints.
Automated decision-making disclosure: Freelancer.com openly states that rankings and recommendations are "produced by analysing user generated content." But there's no clear path to contest these decisions or opt out of profiling.
No AI-specific safeguards: No AI toggle. Your best protection is standard GDPR rights (access, correction, deletion), which are reactive, not preventive.
Bottom line for clients: Freelancer.com's "non-personal UGC" classification is a massive loophole. Treat anything you upload as publicly available for internal reuse. Good for generic tasks; risky for anything proprietary.
PeoplePerHour's privacy policy contains a single sentence that should alarm any company handling sensitive projects:
"Messages are not private and are not confidential."
This applies to WorkStream—the platform's built-in messaging tool where clients and freelancers discuss scopes, budgets, deliverables.
The irony: PeoplePerHour encourages users to keep all communication on-platform for "safety" and dispute resolution. But they're simultaneously telling you those messages aren't confidential.
What they do with message data: They collect "details of the messages you send and receive using WorkStream… including the contents of that message" and may infer additional data from "projects you undertake." They also use data for "analytics and market research."
Bottom line for clients: Don't send anything through PeoplePerHour WorkStream that you wouldn't post on a public forum. Use it only for initial vetting; move real project work to encrypted email.
For routine, non-confidential work (blog posts, simple graphics, data entry):
For proprietary, strategic, or client-confidential work:
For regulated, privileged, or HIPAA/attorney-client work:
As a Top Rated Plus attorney on Upwork, I help companies navigate the complex landscape of freelance marketplace AI policies. I understand these platforms from both the client and service provider perspective.
Generic AI privacy advice doesn't account for the vast differences between platforms:
I stay current with each platform's evolving policies and help you build protective strategies tailored to where and how you hire.
Whether you use one platform or many, I'll help you understand the AI training landscape and implement protective measures across your hiring workflow.
Send me a list of platforms you currently use, types of work you hire for, and any specific confidentiality concerns. I'll provide a customized assessment and action plan.
Email: owner@terms.law
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