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Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

Time is money and chatbots like ChatGPT and Bing Chat have become valuable tools. They can write code, summarize long emails, and even find patterns in large volumes of data. However, as with any free-to-use technology, you may be wondering about the privacy implications of it all. More specifically, does ChatGPT save your data and can you trust it?

So in this article, lets break down ChatGPTs data storage practices and how it handles your sensitive data. Well also detail how to permanently delete your data from ChatGPT and OpenAIs servers.

Does ChatGPT save conversations and user data?

Calvin Wankhede / Android Authority

Yes, OpenAI saves your ChatGPT conversations and prompts for future analysis. According to a FAQ page published by the company, its employees can selectively review chats for safety. In other words, you cant assume anything you say to ChatGPT is kept private or confidential.

All of your conversations with ChatGPT are stored on OpenAI's servers.

Besides prompts and chat conversations, OpenAI also saves other data when you use ChatGPT. This includes account details like your name and email as well as approximate location, IP address, payment details, and device information. Most websites collect this data for analytics purposes so its not unique to ChatGPT. However, it does mean that OpenAI can hand over your ChatGPT conversations and other data to courts or law enforcement.

According to OpenAI, its in-house AI trainers may use your ChatGPT conversations for training purposes. Like any machine learning-based technology, OpenAIs GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 language models were trained on billions of existing text samples. However, these can also be improved further through a process known as fine-tuning, which involves re-training the model on a small dataset (like user chats).

We already know that OpenAI has performed some fine-tuning on the models since it admitted to hiring humans to simulate ideal chat conversations. Now that the chatbot is widely available, its only logical that the company will continue collecting user data to train and improve ChatGPT. You can opt-out if you dont want your data to be used for training but this is a manual process that involves filling out a form.

Does OpenAI or ChatGPT sell user data?

Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

OpenAI lets anyone use ChatGPT for free, even though generating responses likely costs the company a lot of money. So naturally, you might assume that OpenAI has found a way to sell or monetize your data. Luckily, thats not the case. According to an OpenAI support page, your ChatGPT conversations arent shared for marketing purposes.

As for how OpenAI stores ChatGPT data, the company says that its systems are located in the US. The company also requires anyone accessing your data to sign confidentiality contracts and uphold other security obligations.

Your ChatGPT data isn't sold to advertisers, but OpenAI employees may see it.

So how does a small startup like OpenAI serve millions of users without selling their saved data? In early 2023, Microsoft invested $10 billion in OpenAI. The company already uses OpenAIs GPT-4 language model for many of its own services, including Bing Chat. We also know that ChatGPT exclusively uses Microsofts Azure cloud servers to generate responses.

From all of this, we can infer that OpenAIs server costs are subsidized, which allows the company to continue offering ChatGPT for free. In the future, ChatGPT Plus and other revenue sources could help OpenAI turn a profit without selling user data.

Should you trust ChatGPT with your data?

Calvin Wankhede / Android Authority

In the few months since ChatGPT first became available to the public, it has already fallen victim to a couple of data leaks.

In one instance, a software bug resulted in some users seeing others chat titles when logged in. Luckily, the bug didnt expose full chat histories or other sensitive data. That wasnt the only leak either another one revealed the last four digits of some users saved credit cards. These incidents indicate a tangible risk if ChatGPT does indeed save all user data.

ChatGPT has suffered from data leaks already, but most user data remained safe.

OpenAI has managed to keep full chat records reasonably private and away from prying eyes so far. But that could change at any time in the future if it falls victim to a data breach or intrusion. After all, weve seen successful attacks executed against security-conscious companies like LastPass.

To that end, you should not share sensitive personal information, trade secrets, or medical data with ChatGPT or rival chatbots like Google Bard. In fact, many companies have explicitly clamped down on chatbots for this reason. Samsung Semiconductor, for example, reportedly found its employees had shared confidential information with ChatGPT. It has now imposed a character limit on ChatGPT prompts, making it harder to spill company secrets.

37 votes

Yes

11%

No, but I'll use it anyway

76%

No, I plan to delete my account

14%

How to delete your ChatGPT data

Calvin Wankhede / Android Authority

Its possible you didnt know that ChatGPT saves your conversations and prompts until now. So is there a way to clear all of your interactions with the chatbot? Well, clearing your history when logged into your ChatGPT account only removes the data from your view. It doesnt actually delete anything from OpenAIs servers.

For now, the only way to permanently delete your ChatGPT data is to close your OpenAI account. Heres how to do that:

Once OpenAI goes through with the deletion, all of your ChatGPT data and conversations should be permanently deleted. Keep in mind that this process takes anywhere between one to two weeks. If youd prefer not to log in or visit the help section, you can also send an account closure request to deletion@openai.com.

FAQs

No, you need to delete your OpenAI account to permanently delete your ChatGPT chat history. If you simply clear your chats instead, your data will continue to live on OpenAIs servers.

If you cant see your past chats once logged into your ChatGPT account, you may have cleared your account history or the service may be experiencing heavy demand at the moment.

No, you cannot export conversations from ChatGPT at the moment.

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Does ChatGPT save your data? Here's what you need to know - Android Authority