Generating alt text with AI means sending your images somewhere. Before installing a plugin, it is better to know where, for what purpose, and what is kept.
This article gives general guidance and is not legal advice. For your own situation, talk to your data protection officer or a lawyer.
Why the question matters
Your images may show people (team, customers, testimonials), places, documents. They sometimes contain EXIF metadata, including the GPS position of where the picture was taken. Sending them to a third-party service is data processing that you should be able to explain to your visitors in your privacy policy.
The questions to ask before installing
- Who receives the images? The vendor only, or also a third-party AI provider?
- Where are they processed? Inside the European Union, or outside?
- How long are they kept? Deleted after analysis, or stored?
- What does the upload contain? Are EXIF and GPS metadata stripped?
- When does sending begin? On activation, or after a deliberate action by the administrator?
- Does the vendor provide text for your privacy policy?
How SafeAlt answers those questions
- No third-party AI provider: the analysis runs on SafeAlt’s own servers.
- The servers are located in the European Union.
- Images are deleted once the visual analysis is done.
- EXIF and GPS metadata are stripped by the plugin before upload.
- Nothing is sent until an administrator has connected the site and accepted the terms.
- Text for your privacy policy is offered inside the plugin.
The details are on the Privacy and data page of the documentation.
Your checklist
- Read the vendor’s privacy policy and documentation.
- Update your own: mention the service, the purpose and the retention period.
- Check your sensitive images: avoid sending documents or faces if it is not necessary.
- Turn on review mode to stay in control of what gets published.
