Governments, privacy experts, and users who are concerned about its data retention procedures have harshly criticised ChatGPT and its creator, OpenAI. What, then, does the AI chatbot actually know about you, and what does it do with this knowledge?
To learn what it knows and how big of a privacy danger it presents to you, let's look at its privacy policy and terms of service.
What Information Does ChatGPT Store?
We can infer practically everything we need to know about ChatGPT's data retention practises from its privacy policy. It obtains its data from three places:
The majority of the information it retains isn't especially concerning. In reality, it's rather commonplace; you can anticipate that practically any website where you have an account has this information about you.
The fact that it records information from your discussions with ChatGPT poses the true risk. It's very simple to accidentally provide the AI your personal information when utilising it. You could get into serious trouble if you just forget to censor a document that you ask it to proofread.
Your Account and Billing Information
Your name, contact information, login credentials, billing information, and transaction history are all stored by OpenAI. The latter is only retained if you register for a premium account. Since this data is so fundamental, you may anticipate that practically every website where you have an account will ask for it.
When you email a business or get in touch with its customer service, your name, email address, and the message's contents are all kept on file. Similar to that, if you post a remark on one of its social media pages, it logs your social media contact information and any personal information you disclose.
Your Device Information
The service provided by ChatGPT automatically collects some personal data from your browser and device. This information comprises your IP address, location, browser type, the time and date you first used ChatGPT, the number of minutes you spent using it, and your IP address. The name and operating system of your device are also retrieved by ChatGPT.
Cookies are used by OpenAI to monitor your online behaviour on the site and in the chat window. It states that it will utilise this data for analytics and to determine precisely how you engage with ChatGPT.
Information That You Put Into the Chat
Your talks are recorded and stored in transcript form by ChatGPT. In other words, anything you type into the chat window, including private information, is recorded. It's simple to mistakenly provide ChatGPT with your sensitive information without realising it until it's too late, especially if you use it to proofread documents for your job or for personal use.
Because ChatGPT will save any private information you enter in regarding your employer, your team, and your clients, using it for work becomes a little riskier. You might accidentally provide it with your clients' contact information, for instance, if you use it to compile feedback and organise it into a report.
According to the privacy policy, you must give the participants in the chat sufficient privacy notices if you plan to enter personal information into the conversation. Additionally, you must get their permission and be able to demonstrate to OpenAI that the processing of their data complies with the law. Additionally, if you're entering data that the GDPR deems private, you must get in touch with OpenAI to execute its Data Processing Addendum.
Does ChatGPT Record Your Conversations?
Yes, everything you type into ChatGPT is recorded. According to its privacy statement, ChatGPT may gather personal data from your communications, any files you post, and any feedback you leave when you use the service. As a result, ChatGPT poses a cybersecurity risk.
In order to enhance the chat and further educate the system, it also adds that its AI trainers may listen to and analyse your chats. Your personal information is thus not just compromised but also used to OpenAI's advantage.
ChatGPT: Friend or Foe?
There is a lot of data that ChatGPT and OpenAI gather about you. Some of the information it gathers, such as account and device information, is quite typical. The majority of websites carry out this.
However, it also records any private data you provide to the chatbot. A genuine privacy danger exists here. It makes this information available to its AI trainers, which only makes matters worse.
You don't have to stop using ChatGPT totally, but you do need to take precautions. Most importantly, before you hit submit, make sure any confidential information has been removed from your prompts.
