🔍 Read the full analysis: Notion’s AI Retention Promise Meets A Fireworks Breach Disclosure on ThorstenMeyerAI.com
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TL;DR
Notion says data accessed in the Fireworks AI breach included Notion AI chat transcripts used for its Insights feature, affecting fewer than 1% of workspaces. The company says Fireworks had promised zero data retention but retained data from endpoints Notion used; details about where and for how long remain unknown.
In its updated security advisory and Help Center notice, Notion said a dataset Fireworks provided on November 8 included chat transcripts associated with Insights, a feature that helps workspace administrators understand how teams use AI. Notion said the transcripts were unattributable for most affected workspaces: they were not labeled with the author or workspace and did not include tool-call results. That does not mean the text was necessarily harmless. Notion defines a transcript as any input to or output from a model written in the chat, which could include sensitive details users entered.
Notion said fewer than 1% of workspaces were affected. It advised affected customers to treat the data as exposed, review it through its Security incident review guidance, and rotate passwords, API keys or other credentials pasted into Notion AI during the relevant period. On November 11, the company said it revoked exposed Notion API keys found in affected user messages. Notion says it has not identified a workspace as affected if neither the workspace owner nor the user has received a notice from the company.
Notion said AI Meeting Notes—including audio, transcripts and summaries—were not affected unless they were used as input in a Notion AI chat transcript. It also said no other Notion features were affected. Those statements are the company’s account of the incident; the public notice does not provide a count of affected people or a detailed inventory of exposed transcript contents.
Notion’s AI retention promise meets a Fireworks breach
Notion says Fireworks retained data despite a zero-retention commitment, and breach data included some Notion AI chat transcripts used for Insights.
What the breach data included
Notion says the dataset included chat transcripts associated with Insights.
Chat inputs and outputs
Transcripts can contain details users entered, even when records lack author or workspace labels.
Most other features
Notion says AI Meeting Notes and other features were not affected, unless meeting content was used in a chat transcript.
Why the retention promise matters
Notion says Fireworks made a contractual zero-retention commitment, but data from the endpoints Notion used was retained.
- Notion says vendor ZDR covers live requests to generate AI responses.
- Stored requests and responses for chat history and Insights fall outside that commitment.
- Which Fireworks system retained the data and for how long.
- How many people or transcripts were affected, or what each transcript contained.
What affected workspaces should do
Notion advises customers who receive a notice to treat relevant data as exposed.
Use Notion’s Security incident review guidance to examine affected chats.
Change passwords, API keys, or other credentials pasted into Notion AI.
Notion says it has not identified a workspace as affected if neither its owner nor user received a notice.
What Transcript Exposure Means for Workspaces
The disclosure matters because chat transcripts can contain user-entered information, even when they lack names or workspace labels. Notion recommends that affected customers review the specific data, since prompts or model responses may include sensitive material. The company’s description of transcripts as unattributable may reduce the ease of linking some records to individuals, but it does not establish that all content was non-sensitive or impossible to identify.
The incident also puts attention on a distinction between a vendor’s zero-retention commitment and the data handling required to provide a product feature. Notion says its ZDR commitments cover live requests to model vendors, while stored requests and responses used for chat history and Insights fall outside that scope. In this case, Notion says Fireworks separately made a contractual ZDR commitment for its platform, but data from the endpoints Notion used was retained. Customers relying on AI vendors’ retention terms may want to understand which data flows and services those terms actually cover.
For affected organizations, the practical concern is not just whether a transcript was accessed, but what it contained and whether it included credentials or confidential business information. Notion’s instruction to treat the data as exposed is a precaution; the notice does not say that every exposed transcript contained sensitive information or that credentials were used by attackers.
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How Notion Used Fireworks
Notion said it used Fireworks for two purposes: classification jobs for Insights and as a general inference provider for open-weight models in its product. The newly disclosed transcripts came from the Insights-related dataset, according to Notion. The company says it disconnected its systems from Fireworks on November 3, deleted data in the Fireworks system and stopped communications between the services.
Notion’s published incident timeline says Fireworks first notified it on November 2 that a small set of data had been accessed by malicious actors; Notion initially understood the data to be synthetic testing data. The source material says Fireworks’ own bulletin remained marked as last updated November 9, while Notion updated its notice on November 10 and 11. BleepingComputer reported the transcript disclosure on November 11.
Notion says its ZDR commitments for model vendors apply to API requests sent to generate Notion AI responses. It says uses that require retained information, including chat history and Insights, are outside that particular commitment. Separately, Notion says Fireworks made a contractual commitment to zero data retention for Notion’s use of its platform.
““Unfortunately, during our investigation we learned that data was retained from the Fireworks endpoints that we used.””
— Notion, in its updated security notice
Open Questions About Retained Data
The public notices do not identify which Fireworks system retained Notion’s data, how long it was retained, or how many individual users were affected. Notion has not published a transcript-by-transcript account of what information was present, and the available material does not establish whether attackers viewed or used credentials contained in messages.
There is also an unresolved difference in emphasis between the companies’ statements. Fireworks’ November 9 update says it detected no impact to Inference, Training SDK and Nexus, which it describes as zero-retention by default, while listing datasets among data accessed for certain customers. Notion says data was retained from the Fireworks endpoints it used. The published information does not explain which systems or data paths these statements refer to, so it is not possible to reconcile them or determine whether other Fireworks customers faced the same issue.
Notion’s estimate applies to workspaces, not a published count of people or transcripts. The company has not disclosed a precise total, the date range covered by the exposed material, or whether any additional data categories will be identified as its investigation continues.
Vendor Audit and Customer Reviews
Notion says it is auditing critical vendors, including inference providers and data processors, to check their data-minimization practices and adherence to zero-retention policies. It has not announced a completion date or described the audit’s scope beyond that statement. The company’s notice and help page may be updated as it learns more.
Workspace owners who receive a notice from Notion should follow its incident-review guidance and examine whether affected chats included passwords, API keys or other credentials. Notion’s stated advice is to rotate credentials pasted into Notion AI during the incident and treat the relevant data as exposed. Customers who have not been notified should not infer that their workspace was identified as affected, according to Notion, though the company has not published a full dataset or independent verification of its affected-workspace estimate.
Further clarity depends on additional information from Notion and Fireworks about the retained data, the systems involved and the investigation’s findings. Neither company’s available notice settles whether other customers’ data was retained in a similar way.
Key Questions
What Notion data was involved?
Notion says the dataset included Notion AI chat transcripts used for Insights. It says transcripts for most affected workspaces were not labeled with a user or workspace and did not contain tool-call results.
How many workspaces does Notion say were affected?
Notion estimates fewer than 1% of workspaces were affected. It has not provided a precise workspace count or a number of individual users.
What should affected workspace owners do?
Notion advises affected customers to treat the data as exposed, review it using the company’s Security incident review guidance, and rotate passwords, API keys or other credentials pasted into Notion AI during the incident.
Were AI Meeting Notes affected?
Notion says AI Meeting Notes—including audio, transcripts and summaries—were not affected unless they were used as input in a Notion AI chat transcript. It says no other Notion features were affected.
What is still unknown about Fireworks’ data retention?
The public notices do not specify which Fireworks system retained the data, how long it was kept, or whether other Fireworks customers experienced the same problem. The companies’ published descriptions do not fully explain how Notion’s retention disclosure relates to Fireworks’ statement about zero-retention services.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
