For a large number of individuals, ChatGPT will be their very first direct interaction with AI technology. That’s thrilling, and it seems like the future, so it’s easy to ignore the standard privacy problems related to internet services.
Does ChatGPT Save Personal Information?
Yes, ChatGPT does save the data you provide, but not in the way that you’re used to being concerned about websites saving your personal information.
Whenever you interact with ChatGPT, the messages you submit are saved. This type of data, as you might guess, is likely beneficial in further adjusting, training, and upgrading ChatGPT; but, it’s the reason for concern if you’ve ended up disclosing personal data to ChatGPT, thinking it was only an AI and not a person who might ever know what you’ve said.
Then the messages you send will be hooked to your account on the servers of ChatGPT, so you might end up in a case where not only had you suggested personal data that is then stored on a server, but that data could also be related to your real name.
ChatGPT isn’t very clear about why it’s keeping data, but according to the ChatGPT FAQ page, ChatGPT is unable to erase individual prompts. In addition, if you want your saved data deleted you must submit a deletion request. So it’s safe to assume that the chatbot is saving data.
It’s also important to understand that personal data may be gathered or retained for reasons other than making ChatGPT better. In the context of advertising, having a repository of personal data about users may be useful to advertisers.
How to Protect Your Personal Data With ChatGPT
The best way for protecting yourself is to be attentive about what you say ChatGPT. The best approach is to avoid sharing anything that you would not want any site, such as Facebook, Google, or others, to have a history of you sharing.
While you’re able to ‘delete’ or ‘clear’ chats on ChatGPT, it’s unlikely that this deletes any data off ChatGPT’s servers, so do not anticipate that deleting an individual message that has shared some personal data means that it’s gone forever.
If you have given personal data to ChatGPT and want to have it removed, the best course of action is to seek account removal. This will delete your account as well as any data related to it.
However, keep in mind that requesting an account deletion takes some time. Following the steps specified on ChatGPT’s support page, it could take up to four weeks for the request to be completed and your account to be deleted, as per ChatGPT’s website.
According to ChatGPT’s support page, once you submit a request for account deletion and the request is completed, you will not be allowed to create another account in the future. So, if you’re considering having your account deleted, make sure you’ve ended up using ChatGPT.
Lastly, you can choose not to have your private data used to train and update ChatGPT. To opt out, simply fill out the OpenAI Data Opt Out Request form. You have the option to opt out of this for both ChatGPT and DALL-E.
However, while this form relates to your ability to opt out of having your data used to enhance ChatGPT performance, it does not necessarily imply that you will opt out of having any of your information collected or recorded at all. It also does not guarantee that any data ChatGPT already has on file for you will be destroyed.
