A vendor security review lands on Lukas Costa's desk on a Tuesday afternoon. A team lead wants to roll out an AI writing assistant across support. The business case is solid. The deployment plan is clear. One thing is missing: there is no data processing agreement (DPA), because the team has been trialling the tool on free personal accounts. Lukas, the DPO, sends one question back. Who signs the DPA, and on which tier?
The answer decides whether the rollout can go ahead. If the AI vendor processes personal data on your behalf, you almost certainly need a DPA, and a free account does not give you one.
Controller or processor?
The GDPR splits responsibility into two roles. The controller determines the purposes and means of the processing: why the data is processed and how. That is your organisation. The processor handles personal data on behalf of the controller and may only act on documented instructions.
When a support agent drops a customer email into an AI tool to draft a reply, your organisation sets the purpose. The AI vendor processes the data to carry it out. In that situation the vendor is a processor, and that is exactly the point at which the GDPR requires a contract.
When is a DPA mandatory?
The rule is short. If an external party processes personal data for you, a DPA is mandatory under Article 28 GDPR. There is no threshold and no carve-out for "but it is only a chatbot".
Two questions settle it. Does personal data go into the prompt? For business use, almost always: a name, an email address, an account number, a case reference. And does the vendor process that data on your behalf? For an AI tool that processes your input to return an answer, yes. Then the obligation applies.
This is where account tiers come into the decision. A free or personal AI account runs under consumer terms. There is no DPA attached, and the input can be used to improve the model. For business use with personal data, a managed business account with a DPA is the starting point. More on that split in free versus business AI accounts.
What Article 28 requires
Article 28(3) GDPR sets out the content. A DPA must specify:
- Subject matter and duration of the processing, its nature and purpose, the types of personal data and the categories of data subjects.
- Processing only on instructions. The processor handles the data solely on your documented instructions, unless the law requires otherwise.
- Confidentiality. Everyone with access to the data is bound by confidentiality.
- Security. Appropriate technical and organisational measures (Article 32 GDPR).
- Sub-processors. The processor engages no other processor without your authorisation, and imposes the same obligations on any sub-processor.
- Help with data subject rights. The processor assists you in handling access, rectification and erasure requests.
- Help with security and breaches. The processor supports you on security, data breaches and, where needed, a DPIA.
- Return or deletion. At the end of the engagement the processor returns or deletes the data, at your choice.
- Audit. The processor makes available all the information needed to demonstrate compliance and allows audits.
If any of these is missing, the agreement does not meet Article 28. A signed PDF is not necessarily a compliant one, so the review checks for these clauses, not just for a signature.
Which AI vendors offer a DPA?
The major vendors all offer a DPA, but consistently only on their business tiers. The free consumer account is out of scope.
| Vendor | DPA available on | Not on |
|---|---|---|
| OpenAI (ChatGPT) | API, ChatGPT Business, ChatGPT Enterprise | Personal (free) ChatGPT account |
| Anthropic (Claude) | API, Team, Enterprise (built into the commercial terms) | Free and Pro |
| Google (Gemini) | Workspace and Cloud, via the Cloud Data Processing Addendum | Personal Google account |
| Microsoft (Copilot) | Microsoft 365 / Copilot business, via the Products and Services DPA and Product Terms | Consumer account |
Sources, accessed June 2026: OpenAI (data processing addendum for the API and business services; a personal account cannot execute the addendum), Anthropic (the DPA is incorporated into the commercial terms for API, Team and Enterprise; Free and Pro have none), Google (Cloud Data Processing Addendum for Workspace and Cloud, including SCCs), Microsoft (Microsoft 365 Copilot for organisations is covered by the Products and Services Data Protection Addendum and the Product Terms, with Microsoft acting as processor).
The practical takeaway for the review: choose the tier that comes with a DPA, and confirm that the agreement actually covers the specific product in use.
That is manageable for four vendors. It stops being manageable once a team is quietly using a twentieth AI tool that nobody has logged. BeeSensible's catalogue scores over 1,000 AI tools on the same kind of question, DPA availability among them, alongside data governance, jurisdiction and incidents, so the check does not start from scratch for every new tool that turns up.
Outlook
