How ChatGPT Saves and Uses Your Data

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Everything you need to know about data privacy on ChatGPT

Co-authored by Nicole Levine, MFA Reviewed by Luigi Oppido

Last Updated: July 6, 2024 Fact Checked

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Does ChatGPT save data?

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Is ChatGPT private?

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How ChatGPT Uses Your Data

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How to Delete Your Data

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Tips

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Warnings

Are you wondering whether ChatGPT has been saving those questions you've been asking? ChatGPT does save your data, including your prompts, the bot's responses, and other personal details you've provided to to the chatbot. Even if you delete your saved conversations, OpenAI can still use your saved data to improve its AI models. This wikiHow article will explain how ChatGPT saves and uses your data, and teach you how to opt out and delete your data permanently.

Things You Should Know

ChatGPT saves your conversations and data for as long as your account is open.
All data you provide can be used to train ChatGPT and other AI models, but you can opt out.
To delete your ChatGPT data permanently, you'll need to delete your OpenAI account.

Section 1 of 4:

Does ChatGPT save data?

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1
Yes, ChatGPT saves your chat history and data. This includes the prompts (input) you give to ChatGPT, and all of its responses. Your data remains stored by OpenAI as long as you keep your ChatGPT account open. You can view your saved conversations with ChatGPT in the left panel of the ChatGPT homepage.
- You can delete saved conversations easily—just select the prompt you want to delete, then click the trash icon.
- While deleting conversations removes them from your view, your chats can still be used by OpenAI. The only way to permanently delete your saved ChatGPT data (aside from the data that's already been used to train ChatGPT) is to delete your OpenAI account.^{[1]
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This includes your name, contact info, geolocation data, network activity, payment details, file uploads, communications, transaction history, and communications you've had with OpenAI on any platform.^{[2]
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Section 2 of 4:

Is ChatGPT private?

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Your conversations are not totally private. OpenAI reviews ChatGPT conversations to make sure they comply with the content policy, and also uses them to improve ChatGPT and other OpenAI products.^{[3]
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Research source} OpenAI's privacy policy does state that they'll anonymize your personal information when using your conversations to improve the service.^{[4]
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Research source} But, there's no guarantee that all sensitive information will be hidden or stripped.
- Because your conversations are used to train AI models, there's a chance that sharing sensitive information with ChatGPT could leak that data to users of future versions of the chatbot. Because of this risk, many businesses, including financial institutions like JPMorgan Chase, do not allow their staff to use ChatGPT.^{[5]
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  Research source} It's best to avoid sharing sensitive information with ChatGPT.

Section 3 of 4:

How ChatGPT Uses Your Data

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Your conversations with ChatGPT are used to train the AI model. This means that both the prompts you enter and the bot's responses are not only saved, but are also used to make ChatGPT better. If you don't want your ChatGPT content to be used to improve the AI model, or you're worried about leaking sensitive information, you can opt out by filling out this form.
- If you use OpenAI tools through a different API and not through the ChatGPT website, your data will not be saved or used to train AI models.^{[6]
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  Research source} If you do want to allow OpenAI to save your data when using an API, you can opt in using this form.
The personal information you share with ChatGPT may be provided to OpenAI's service providers, affiliates, law enforcement, and any parties involved in financial transactions. This includes non-anonymized data, including your name, network information, and payment details.

Section 4 of 4:

How to Delete Your Data

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Click Get help on ChatGPT. If you want to permanently delete your saved ChatGPT data, you'll need to delete your OpenAI account. Start by clicking Get help at the bottom-left corner of ChatGPT.
- Deleting your account is permanent, and you won't be allowed to create a new one. If you don't want to stop using ChatGPT to write essays, improve your code, you may prefer to opt out of using your data for training purposes instead—just fill out this form to do so.
- Even if you delete your saved data from ChatGPT, any data that was already used to train the AI models will remain in use indefinitely.^{[7]
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Click the chat icon. It's the chat bubble at the bottom-right corner of the screen. This opens a menu on the right side of the page.
- If you don't see this icon, disable your ad blocker and then refresh the page.
You'll see this near the bottom of the right panel.^{[8]
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It's one of the options under "What brings you here today?" You'll be reminded that deleting your ChatGPT account is permanent.
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Click Delete my account to confirm. This submits your data and account deletion request to ChatGPT's support team.
- It can take up to 4 weeks for your account and data to be deleted.

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Tips

According to ChatGPT's terms of use, you remain the owner of all input, and have the right to use the ChatGPT's output in any way.^{[9]
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You can read ChatGPT's full privacy policy at https://openai.com/policies/privacy-policy, and the terms of use at https://openai.com/policies/terms-of-use.

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If you live in California, you can request more details about ChatGPT's privacy practices by emailing dsar@openai.com.

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Warnings

For your own safety, you should avoid sharing personal or private information with ChatGPT. OpenAI stated they may occasionally read your conversations for quality assurance.

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