OpenAI CEO Warns About ChatGPT Privacy

These days, people use AI chatbots like ChatGPT for all sorts of tasks. Users ask them to help with things like writing stories, planning trips, or solving coding problems. Beyond that, some individuals are even relying on these AI tools for more personal needs, like asking about health issues, sharing their worries, or seeking advice on emotional stress. However, people using ChatGPT should really be careful now if they are looking for therapy or any kind of emotional help from the AI app.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently said that the tech world hasn't found a way to keep user data confidential when it comes to sensitive conversations. In an episode of the podcast This Past Weekend, Sam Altman was asked about how AI fits within today’s legal system. He explained that because there aren’t any laws or policies yet regulating this technology, users shouldn't expect their conversations with the AI chatbot to be legally private or protected.

Altman explained that while talks with a therapist, lawyer, or doctor are legally protected and kept confidential, talks with ChatGPT do not have the same legal privacy safeguards. He added that such a situation could raise privacy concerns for users because OpenAI would be legally obligated to provide their ChatGPT conversations as evidence if a lawsuit arises.

Unlike encrypted messaging apps such as WhatsApp or Signal, OpenAI can access and read the conversations users have with ChatGPT. OpenAI’s data retention policies state that when users delete their chats on ChatGPT Free, Plus, or Pro, those conversations are permanently removed within 30 days, unless the company needs to keep them longer for legal or security reasons.

Sam Altman's comments come amid the company’s fight against a court order in its legal dispute with The New York Times, which would force OpenAI to keep the conversation records of hundreds of millions of ChatGPT users worldwide—excluding those using the Enterprise version. The Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement in 2023. Sam Altman's latest warning has reignited debate on AI’s ethical and legal issues. While some experts stress that AI chats should have the same legal privacy as doctor-patient talks, there is caution that trusting technology with all personal secrets may not be wise.