ChatGPT and Privacy: Everything You Need to Know in 2025
You’ve probably caught wind of some concerning headlines about ChatGPT – like how it keeps your deleted chats or how some users accidentally get responses meant for someone else. Before you type your next prompt, whether it’s for party ideas, help with coding, or a love note, it’s a good idea to know what data ChatGPT keeps, how it uses your info, and how secure it is.
We’ll break down what ChatGPT gets right, where it falls short, and what you can do to protect your privacy while still making the most of the tool.
Does ChatGPT Collect Personal Data? A Closer Look
The short answer is: yes. Here’s a detailed breakdown of how the company handles your data.
What Data Does ChatGPT Collect?
When you use ChatGPT, the platform gathers:
- Account details: Your name, email address, and any third-party accounts you connect to your subscription.
- Prompt content: Everything you type into the chat window, including files or images you upload.
- Technical information: Your IP address, browser, device type, and general location.
All of this helps the developers monitor performance, detect abuse, and improve the model. However, it also creates a detailed digital fingerprint. If you’re logged in, it’s tied to your profile.
💡 Privacy Tip: Use a VPN to add an extra layer of protection
You can’t change how AI tools store your prompts, but you can limit what they know about you. PIA VPN masks your IP address, encrypts your traffic, and makes it harder for online platforms to build a detailed profile around your location and device.
How Does ChatGPT Use the Data It Collects?
The default settings for free and Pro accounts allow OpenAI to use your prompts to help train future versions of the AI. That means your questions, responses, and data can directly shape how the model behaves.
This might make ChatGPT smarter, but it also means anything you share, whether it’s a business idea or a personal story, can be saved and used as a response to another user’s query.
For businesses, ChatGPT Enterprise and Team plans offer slightly better privacy:
- No data is used for training.
- Data is encrypted when stored on servers.
- Admins can decide how long the data is retained.
How Long Does ChatGPT Keep Your Data?
That depends on your settings. If you enable the chat history, ChatGPT stores your conversations indefinitely, and they remain accessible via your account. You do have the option to disable chat history or use temporary chat (which isn’t used for training models), but even then, OpenAI can store this data for up to 30 days for moderation, abuse prevention, legal and regulatory compliance, model improvement, and auditing logs.
Who Can Access Your ChatGPT Data?
To be clear, your prompt history is not available to the public, but it’s not entirely private either. OpenAI’s terms and conditions state that the company may review select conversations to fine-tune the model or investigate issues. This includes human engineers and moderators with internal access, so don’t assume only the AI is reading your prompts.
What Happens When You Upload Images to ChatGPT?
From converting selfies or family pictures into Studio Ghibli-style portraits to participating in roast me challenges, ChatGPT’s image-based trends are all over social media.
When you upload photos to ChatGPT, several privacy issues emerge:
- Data retention: OpenAI’s privacy policy indicates that the company may use this content to improve its services.
- Metadata exposure: Uploaded images can contain metadata like location, device information, and timestamps, potentially revealing more than intended.
- Facial recognition risks: Your facial features could inadvertently contribute to training facial recognition models, raising concerns about unauthorized surveillance.
💡 Expert Tip: Avoid uploading photos of yourself or loved ones
If malicious actors get their hands on your photos, they can use them to impersonate you, craft convincing phishing messages, gain unauthorized account access, or create inappropriate content. Background details can give away information about your location, and reverse image searches could create a trail back to your social media accounts.
Are ChatGPT Conversations Private? What to Look Out For
Your conversations with ChatGPT aren’t exactly private, and there are some risks you should be aware of.
ChatGPT Memory Can Build a Profile on You
In late 2024, OpenAI began testing a memory feature that allows ChatGPT to remember details across sessions, such as your name, writing style, and personal preferences. This feature can be disabled, but its existence raises new privacy questions about persistent profiling. If left on, ChatGPT can build a long-term picture of who you are, what you like, and how you think.
Deleting Doesn’t Always Mean Gone
If you delete a chat from your account, it disappears from your view but not from OpenAI. With history disabled, data is held for 30 days. With it enabled, there’s no stated deletion timeframe.
That creates a gap between what you see and what the system remembers. And if a data breach occurs, malicious actors could access your retained information.
ChatGPT Can Share Your Data with Third Parties
OpenAI openly states in its privacy policy that it can share data with contractors, affiliates, or third-party service providers. In some cases, it can also be turned over in response to valid law enforcement requests.
The ChatGPT Mobile App Tracks How You Use It
The ChatGPT mobile app can use third-party tools like Google Firebase to collect crash reports, performance metrics, or usage data. While this helps improve functionality, it can also expose more metadata about how you use the app, potentially linking your behavior across platforms.
To improve your online privacy, you should familiarize yourself with the device-level privacy settings or stick to communicating with ChatGPT via your browser.
ℹ️ ChatGPT privacy breaches that have already happened
- In March 2023, a caching bug briefly exposed other users’ chat titles and billing info.
- In March 2024, a Group-IB report found that more than 100,000 ChatGPT credentials were found on dark web forums between June 2022 and May 2023. These likely came from malware and reused login data, not a platform breach, but the exposure still highlights the need for stronger user-side protections.
Even the most privacy-conscious platforms can’t completely avoid human error, flawed code, or external threats.
What ChatGPT Gets Right About Privacy
With more than 120 million daily users, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that ChatGPT has taken many of the necessary steps to protect user privacy. Here are some of the things that OpenAI does right.
Privacy Settings You Control
OpenAI allows you to:
- Disable chat history, which also prevents those conversations from being used to train future models.
- Remove personal data or instruct ChatGPT not to train on your data.
- Use temporary chats, which are deleted after 30 days unless flagged for abuse.
Transparency and Compliance
The company now regularly publishes privacy policy updates, complies with major frameworks like GDPR and CCPA, and is working with global regulators to improve transparency.
Bug Bounty Program
Security researchers can report vulnerabilities through an official bug bounty program, helping strengthen privacy protections and system defenses.
Encrypted in Transit
ChatGPT uses HTTPS/TLS encryption to secure your data as it travels between your device and OpenAI’s servers. This makes it very difficult for third parties to intercept your chats.
However, there is no end-to-end encryption like you find with other secure messenger apps, such as WhatsApp or Signal. This is because OpenAI reads and reviews some data on its servers for training and other purposes.
How to Delete Your ChatGPT Data (Or Stop It from Being Used)
OpenAI gives you a good level of control over your data. The annoying thing is it doesn’t make it easy to find these settings. You need to find the Privacy Portal and make a privacy request to download your data, instruct the bot not to train on your content, delete your account, and remove personal data.
How to Submit a ChatGPT Personal Data Removal Request
If you’ve shared personal information in a conversation and want it removed from the AI’s training data, OpenAI allows you to file a Personal Data Removal Request. To request the removal of specific personal data from ChatGPT’s training set:
1. Log in to your OpenAI account.
2. Visit the OpenAI Privacy Portal.
3. Click ChatGPT Personal Data Removal Request.
4. Verify your account.
5. Fill out a form that asks for your name, the personal information you want to remove, the relevant ChatGPT prompts, a link to the threat, a reason for the removal, and more.
6. According to OpenAI, it will “verify and consider your request, balancing privacy and data protection rights with other rights including freedom of expression and information, in accordance with applicable law.”
This Data Removal Request doesn’t guarantee that all of your information will be completely removed. It may stop the particular information from being included in future outputs and training, but OpenAI might still retain the data for other internal uses.
How to Delete All of Your ChatGPT Data
The only way to delete all of your ChatGPT data is to delete your account entirely. Keep in mind that this is permanent, and you won’t be able to create a new account at a later date with the same credentials.
To delete your account:
- Log in to your account
- Go to the Privacy Portal
- Choose Delete my OpenAI account
- Follow the on-screen instructions
How to Opt Out of Having Your Data Used for Model Training
You can also prevent your ongoing chats from being used to train OpenAI’s models. There are two ways to do this:
Option 1: Enable Temporary Chats (Ephemeral Mode)
This prevents chats from being saved or used for training. It’s ideal if you want session-only interactions.
Option 2: Disable Training on Your Account
- Log in to your account.
- Click your profile icon in the upper-right corner.
- Select Settings.
- Go to Data Controls in the side menu.
- Toggle off Improve the model for everyone.
It might feel selfish to turn off the option that can improve the model for everyone, but remember, you’re just prioritizing your privacy over training the AI.
Tips to Protect Your Privacy When Using ChatGPT
You don’t need to be a tech-savvy person to protect your privacy on ChatGPT; you just have to pay attention to the information you share, how you access the platform, and what settings you use. Here are some tips to keep your personal and professional data safe:
1. Keep It Generic When Possible
Treat ChatGPT like a public forum. Don’t share:
- Real names, addresses, or contact details
- Company secrets, internal documents, or client data
- Logins, passwords, or authentication codes
- Credit card numbers, PIN codes, or cryptocurrency wallet numbers
2. Clean up After Yourself
Make it a habit to delete conversations that contain anything remotely sensitive. Keep in mind that the content will still be available to the OpenAI trainers for up to 30 days.
3. Use a VPN
A VPN doesn’t have an effect on what prompts or content you share on ChatGPT, but it does add a layer of anonymity by masking your IP address. This hides your real location and makes it more difficult for OpenAI to build a profile on you.
4. Secure Your Account
Always enable two-factor authentication and use a strong, unique password. If someone else accesses your account, they can access your full chat history.
5. Stick to Official Platforms
Be careful with apps and plugins you connect to your ChatGPT account, like browser extensions or third-party integrations (such as calendar apps, task managers, or other external services), as they can send your data to third-party services that don’t follow the same privacy rules as OpenAI.
For example, a travel plugin might receive your location or itinerary details, while a PDF-reading plugin could access the documents you upload. These services operate under their own privacy policies and may store or analyze your inputs independently.
6. Use a Throwaway Account
If you’re asking questions tied to sensitive topics, like legal issues or private health concerns, consider using a separate account that isn’t linked to your real identity.
What Experts and Watchdogs Say About ChatGPT Privacy
OpenAI has taken steps toward improving privacy and transparency, but multiple organizations and experts still have major concerns:
- ToS;DR, a watchdog that analyzes digital terms of service gives OpenAI a D rating. That’s largely due to the platform’s vague consent mechanisms and the default setting to use user content for training.
- Common Sense Media, which evaluates platforms for educational and family safety, rated ChatGPT at just 48% for privacy, noting that the platform isn’t well-suited for minors and offers limited data control for users.
- The Italian Data Protection Authority became the first major regulator to act. In 2024, it fined OpenAI €15 million for violating GDPR rules, specifically for a lack of age verification, inadequate data transparency, and no legal basis for collecting personal information.
So while ChatGPT offers convenience and has impressive capabilities, its privacy safeguards aren’t up to the standard that you might expect from a tool used for everything from coding to therapy-like chats, even with the privacy controls enabled.
FAQ
OpenAI uses encryption so only you and the OpenAI team can access your chat history – unless someone gains access to your device or looks over your shoulder. While this means that a third party is unlikely to see your conversations with the bot, OpenAI’s internal reviewers can see everything if your account is flagged for moderation.
If you want to prevent unwanted people from reading your chat history, avoid using third-party tools that might not be as secure and enable two-factor authentication.
No – your chats can be stored, reviewed, and used to improve the model, especially if chat history is on. There is the option to prevent OpenAI from using your content to train the models, but the chats are still stored on internal servers for 30 days. OpenAI also states in its privacy policy that it can turn over any incriminating content to the authorities.
Yes. A bug in 2023 exposed other users’ chat titles and billing details. While rare, data leaks can and do happen, making it important to limit what you share on the platform.
You can delete an individual chat by clicking on the three dots next to the thread on the left-hand sidebar. To delete your entire chat history at once, go to Settings > General > Delete All Chats.
Yes. It logs your IP address, browser details, and device type and uses them for analytics and safety monitoring. To limit ChatGPT’s ability to track you, get PIA VPN. It hides your IP, reducing the amount of information ChatGPT can use to profile or track you.
ChatGPT doesn’t sell your personal data to advertisers or third parties. However, unless you opt out, your chats may still be used to train future AI models. OpenAI also shares limited data with service providers to operate its platform – these partners must follow strict privacy and security guidelines. To limit data sharing, you can adjust your privacy settings or submit a request through the OpenAI Privacy Portal.
Yes, ChatGPT can turn over any information to authorities, and this data can also be exposed during a breach. If it’s something that could be used to identify or incriminate you, it’s best to keep it out of the chat. If you use the temporary chat or delete your chats, note that they’re still available on the ChatGPT internal servers for up to 30 days.
Photos are treated like text input. ChatGPT stores them, can analyze them, and it can even use them for training unless history is disabled. Avoid uploading anything you wouldn’t want viewed or retained.
Deleting your account removes associated user data, but OpenAI may retain anonymized logs for security and research purposes. Not everything is wiped instantly.
Yes. ChatGPT collects your IP address during each session. If you’d prefer to keep that private, using a VPN for ChatGPT connects you to a virtual server and masks your IP address, so ChatGPT won’t have your real one.
You can follow these tips to protect your privacy when using ChatGPT. Don’t tell ChatGPT anything you wouldn’t want to be made public. That includes names, addresses, financial details, passwords, company secrets, or personal health or legal issues. If you want to talk about private issues, make sure that you’re not using any personally identifiable information and keep it as generic as possible. Treat every chat like it could be viewed or stored.