AI Engine runs inside your Salesforce org as a managed package. This article gives admins, security teams and data protection officers the overall picture: what happens to data when a user asks a question, what AI Engine stores, and what it does not keep.
The data path#
- A user asks a question in the Sales Agent chat or clicks an action such as Next Steps or Meet Prep.
- AI Engine reads the Salesforce data it needs inside your org, with that user's permissions. It works within the scope your admin configured: the objects enabled in Agent Objects, and the related data selected for features such as Meet Prep and AI Scoring. What is sent to the AI provider explains which fields each feature includes.
- When Allow PII is off (the default), email addresses, phone numbers, addresses and the other values described in PII masking are replaced with placeholders before anything leaves Salesforce.
- Salesforce sends the request to your AI provider (OpenAI, Anthropic or Azure OpenAI) through a Named Credential in your org, using your own API key. With Azure OpenAI, web-search features use a separate OpenAI connection; see Choosing a provider for compliance.
- The answer comes back to Salesforce, placeholders are replaced with the real values, and the result is shown to the user.
There is no Cloud Connected server in this path. Requests go from your Salesforce org to the provider account you configured. Cloud Connected does not receive your prompts, answers, records or API key.
What AI Engine stores in your org#
| What | Where | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Configuration | AI Engine objects (Org Profile, Agent Objects, prompt templates, scoring and PDF settings) | Written by admins in the Ai Agent Admin Setup tab. |
| Usage log | AI Activity Log object | One record per AI action: usage metadata (feature, user, object and record, model, tokens, duration, status, estimated cost), plus a short error message when a call fails. See Activity log and auditing. |
| Query behind a chat answer | AI Query Cache object | The query AI Engine generated for a chat answer. It stays usable for four hours so Show all, export and column changes can run it again, and only the user who asked can use it. Expired entries are removed as that user asks further questions. |
| AI scores | AI_Score__c, AI_Score_Label__c, AI_Score_Reason__c, AI_Score_Date__c on Lead and Opportunity |
Written by AI Scoring when scoring is active for the object. |
| Records a user chooses to create | Standard Salesforce objects and Files | Tasks, sent emails, saved PDFs and Magic Snap leads, accounts and contacts are created only when the user clicks the button that creates them. Magic Snap also attaches the photo to the new record as a File and can add a follow-up task, and Research this company adds its findings to that record's Description. |
What AI Engine does not store#
- Full prompt and response text is not persisted. The request sent to the provider and the full answer are not saved to any Salesforce object. Only the results listed in the table above are saved: scores and their written reasons, and what a user chooses to save.
- The conversation stays in the chat panel. Earlier messages are kept in the user's browser while the chat is open, and the last few are sent with the next question so follow-up questions work. They are not saved to Salesforce. Clear empties the conversation, and reloading the page starts a new one.
- The placeholder mapping used for masking exists only while a single request is processed and is discarded afterwards. See PII masking.
Two stored items can contain text derived from a request. The AI Query Cache holds the generated query, which can include values from the question, such as a company name. The activity log stores the error message of a failed call (up to 500 characters), and a provider's error message can quote part of the request.
What your AI provider receives#
The provider receives the text each feature needs: the user's question, relevant record data, your playbook text and, for web-search features, the search subject. The details per feature are in What is sent to the AI provider.
How the provider handles API data (retention, use for training, processing region) is set by your agreement with that provider, not by AI Engine. Review those terms before go-live; Choosing a provider for compliance explains the differences between the three options.
What Cloud Connected receives#
Nothing from normal use of AI Engine. The one exception is the inquiry form on the License tab: when an admin submits it, Salesforce emails Cloud Connected the org name and ID, the admin's name and email address, and the details typed into the form.