Snowflake AI Footnotes
What Snowflake's AI features do with your data, as Snowflake publishes it. Checked October 31, 2026. Snowflake in the Directory.
Agent access
Snowflake-managed MCP server, generally available since November 4, 2025, serves Cortex Analyst, Cortex Search, Cortex Agents, custom tools and SQL execution as tools. Cortex Agents also has a REST API. source, source 2, source 3 · checked October 31, 2026
Stage: generally available. Authentication: Snowflake OAuth by default, or External OAuth through the customer's identity provider; programmatic access tokens are supported. No dynamic client registration. Role-based grants on the server and on each tool.
Cortex AI Functions (AISQL)
Snowflake Cortex AI
| On by default? | On by default for most users: access comes through the SNOWFLAKE.CORTEX_USER database role, which is granted to PUBLIC. source · checked October 31, 2026 |
|---|---|
| How an admin turns it off | Revoke the SNOWFLAKE.CORTEX_USER (and SNOWFLAKE.COPILOT_USER) database roles from PUBLIC, then grant them only to chosen roles. Models can also be limited with an account-level allowlist or role-based access. ACCOUNTADMIN keeps access. source, source 2, source 3, source 4 · checked October 31, 2026 |
| Trains on customer data? | No. Snowflake does not use Customer Data or Usage Data, including inputs and outputs, to train, re-train or fine-tune any model it makes available to other customers; fine-tuned models built on a customer's data are usable only by that account unless the customer directs otherwise. source, source 2 · checked October 31, 2026 |
| Retention | Not published as of October 31, 2026 |
| Where data is processed | Customer data stays stored in the account's region. With cross-region inference, prompts and responses are sent transiently to another region and not persisted there. The ACCOUNTADMIN sets CORTEX_ENABLED_CROSS_REGION to ANY_REGION, a single cloud, a cloud geography (such as AWS_EU or AZURE_US) or DISABLED. New organizations in commercial regions created after March 9, 2026 default to ANY_REGION; other commercial accounts inherit a same-cloud geography value. source, source 2, source 3, source 4 · checked October 31, 2026 |
| Model providers | Models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Mistral AI, DeepSeek and xAI, deployed within the Snowflake Service perimeter. The model list also includes Google Gemini models (gemini-3.1-pro is in public preview). The sub-processor list names only AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, including for cross-region inference. source, source 2, source 3, source 4, source 5, source 6 · checked October 31, 2026 |
| Price | Consumption, in credits per one million tokens processed, by function and model; the rates are in the Snowflake Service Consumption Table. Warehouse cost also applies. source, source 2 · checked October 31, 2026 |
Cortex Agents
Snowflake Cortex AI
| On by default? | On by default: Cortex Agents is controlled by the SNOWFLAKE.CORTEX_USER database role, which is granted to PUBLIC. Agents also need USAGE on the tools they query. source · checked October 31, 2026 |
|---|---|
| How an admin turns it off | Revoke SNOWFLAKE.CORTEX_USER from PUBLIC and grant it to chosen roles; agents also depend on USAGE grants on the services they query. source · checked October 31, 2026 |
| Trains on customer data? | No. Snowflake does not use Customer Data or Usage Data, including inputs and outputs, to train, re-train or fine-tune any model it makes available to other customers; fine-tuned models built on a customer's data are usable only by that account unless the customer directs otherwise. source, source 2 · checked October 31, 2026 |
| Retention | Not published as of October 31, 2026 |
| Where data is processed | Customer data stays stored in the account's region. With cross-region inference, prompts and responses are sent transiently to another region and not persisted there. The ACCOUNTADMIN sets CORTEX_ENABLED_CROSS_REGION to ANY_REGION, a single cloud, a cloud geography (such as AWS_EU or AZURE_US) or DISABLED. New organizations in commercial regions created after March 9, 2026 default to ANY_REGION; other commercial accounts inherit a same-cloud geography value. source, source 2, source 3, source 4 · checked October 31, 2026 |
| Model providers | Models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Mistral AI, DeepSeek and xAI, deployed within the Snowflake Service perimeter. The model list also includes Google Gemini models (gemini-3.1-pro is in public preview). The sub-processor list names only AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, including for cross-region inference. source, source 2, source 3, source 4, source 5, source 6 · checked October 31, 2026 |
| Price | Consumption: orchestration is charged on tokens, Cortex Analyst per token, and tools that run their own compute (web search, code execution, MCP connectors, agent skills) can add cost. The rates are in the Snowflake Service Consumption Table. source, source 2, source 3 · checked October 31, 2026 |
Snowflake CoWork
Snowflake AI & ML
| On by default? | Not published as of October 31, 2026 |
|---|---|
| How an admin turns it off | Access is controlled by the SNOWFLAKE.CORTEX_USER database role and the access controls on the underlying Cortex Agent or Search Service. source · checked October 31, 2026 |
| Trains on customer data? | No. Snowflake does not use Customer Data or Usage Data, including inputs and outputs, to train, re-train or fine-tune any model it makes available to other customers; fine-tuned models built on a customer's data are usable only by that account unless the customer directs otherwise. source, source 2 · checked October 31, 2026 |
| Retention | Files uploaded in a thread are saved to the user's stage and cleaned up when the thread is deleted or its time to live expires. source · checked October 31, 2026 |
| Where data is processed | Customer data stays stored in the account's region. With cross-region inference, prompts and responses are sent transiently to another region and not persisted there. The ACCOUNTADMIN sets CORTEX_ENABLED_CROSS_REGION to ANY_REGION, a single cloud, a cloud geography (such as AWS_EU or AZURE_US) or DISABLED. New organizations in commercial regions created after March 9, 2026 default to ANY_REGION; other commercial accounts inherit a same-cloud geography value. source, source 2, source 3, source 4 · checked October 31, 2026 |
| Model providers | Not published as of October 31, 2026 |
| Price | Consumption, in credits. Admins can cap spend with a resource budget on the Snowflake CoWork object and with per-user credit quotas. source, source 2 · checked October 31, 2026 |
Connections to outside MCP servers
Cortex Agents and Snowflake CoWork connect to remote MCP servers (for example Atlassian Jira or Salesforce) through MCP connectors. Account admins create the external MCP server object and API integration with OAuth credentials; by default only account admins hold the privileges, and other roles need USAGE on both objects. source, source 2, source 3 · checked October 31, 2026
Compliance
- HIPAA: Business Critical Edition supports PHI under HIPAA and HITRUST CSF; a signed BAA must be in place before PHI is stored. Snowflake does not say which AI features the BAA covers. source, source 2 · checked October 31, 2026
- FedRAMP: Snowflake lists FedRAMP Class C (Moderate) for its US Commercial Gov regions and FedRAMP Class D (High) for its SnowGov regions, on Business Critical Edition or higher. In US FedRAMP High and DoD government regions, Cortex cross-region inference stays within the same compliance boundary on FIPS-validated infrastructure. The managed MCP server has not completed formal FedRAMP assessment. source, source 2, source 3, source 4, source 5 · checked October 31, 2026
EU AI Act
Snowflake's AI Terms (updated October 27, 2026) commit it to provide covered AI features in line with laws that apply to it, including the EU AI Act, as applicable. source · checked October 31, 2026
Not published by Snowflake as of October 31, 2026
- Retention period for Cortex AI Function prompts and outputs, and for Cortex Agents and Snowflake CoWork threads
- Whether Snowflake CoWork is available to users before an admin creates its account object and an agent
- Which Snowflake AI features fall under the HIPAA BAA
- A release stage for MCP connectors
- Per-model mapping of which model provider hosts each model (Snowflake names the model families, not the hosting arrangement for each)
Changes
No changes recorded since the first check on October 31, 2026.
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