How to control AI data collection
A single switch governing whether xSpeed's AI features may collect visitor data, and only after consent — deliberately in the Free plugin, not behind a paywall.
AI Privacy is one important switch: whether xSpeed’s AI-powered features may collect data from your visitors, and if so, only after they’ve consented.
It sits in the Free plugin even though the features it governs are Pro. The panel explains why in its own subtitle: “The off-switch is here in Free because privacy is a fundamental right, not a paid feature.”
Where to find it
- In your WordPress admin, click xSpeed Cache in the left menu.
- In the xSpeed Cache sidebar, open the AI & agents group.
- Click the AI Privacy card.
Shortcut: open
wp-admin/admin.php?page=xspeed#/ai-agents/ai-privacydirectly.✅ This panel is part of xSpeed Cache (Free).
Settings at a glance
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Require consent before AI data collection | On | Gates collection behind the visitor’s consent. |
| Consent banner text | Preset wording | What the cookie consent banner says you collect. |
How it works
The switch is a gate every AI feature must pass before recording anything about a visitor. It doesn’t disable the features — it decides whether they may observe your visitors.
Only one feature actually collects visitor data today: SmartPredict, which records anonymous navigation transitions to predict the next page. Features like Adaptive Cache and Smart Image work from aggregated site data — traffic counters, media statistics — and are unaffected by this setting, because they never touch visitor-level data in the first place.
The consent switch
- Require consent before AI data collection — the gate.
- Consent banner text — what your banner says.
On by default. AI features only record data after a visitor accepts your consent banner.
Turn it off and they collect from every visitor. The panel is careful about when that’s acceptable: “only legal in regions without GDPR-style consent rules.” If any meaningful share of your audience is in the EU, the UK, or a comparable jurisdiction, leaving this on isn’t a preference — it’s the compliant configuration.
Two details make this stronger than a typical toggle:
It applies even if Pro isn’t installed. The setting is stored and honoured regardless, so “a later Pro upgrade respects whichever choice you made.” You can set your policy now and it holds when the features arrive.
Consent banner text is shown in your cookie consent banner. The guidance is to keep it factual — what you collect (page navigation, performance metrics) and why. This is the text your visitors actually read before agreeing, so vague wording undermines the consent you’re collecting.
⚠️ This setting governs whether data is recorded, not what a feature sends to your AI provider. Those are separate questions. Adaptive Cache, for instance, sends aggregated counters to write its explanation — that happens regardless of this gate, because no visitor data is involved. What the gate stops is visitor-level collection upstream.