"OpenAI collects extensive user data including prompts, location, and device identifiers for model training and ad targeting. Broad sharing with business account administrators, marketing partners, and government authorities, combined with indefinite retention for banned accounts and vague policy change procedures, creates elevated privacy risk."
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7 Privacy Improvements Available
openai Privacy Concerns & Scorecard
OpenAI collects and uses user prompts, uploaded files, images, audio, and video content to train AI models. This represents collection of user-generated content at scale without default opt-in consent.
User content and data shared broadly with vendors, service providers, marketing partners, affiliates, and government authorities. Business account administrators receive unrestricted access to all user content and account controls.
Free and Go users subject to personalized advertising based on collected data. Marketing partners receive data through cookies and similar technologies; limited opt-out mechanism available but not prominently surfaced.
Data retention periods are vague and indefinite for certain categories. Banned accounts retain data indefinitely; legal obligation retention has no specified time limit.
Policy changes can be made unilaterally by OpenAI with only publication of the updated version as notice. Users have no explicit right to opt-in to new practices or receive advance notice.
Ad data clear
- 1Open ChatGPT on web or iOS
- 2Go to Settings and select Ad Controls (or visit chatgpt.com/#settings/Advertising)
- 3Select the option to clear data used for ads
Ai training opt out
- 1Click your profile icon in ChatGPT
- 2Select Settings
- 3Go to Data Controls
- 4Turn off the toggle for "Improve the model for everyone"
Temporary chat privacy
- 1ChatGPT offers a Temporary Chat mode where conversations are not saved to history, are not used to train AI models, and are deleted from OpenAI's systems after 30 days. This provides a privacy-preserving way to interact with ChatGPT without contributing to model training.
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Data Collection & Tracking
Personal Information Collected
Account creation, authentication, payment processing, and identity verification for privacy rights requests
Service personalization, compliance, and usage analytics
Service delivery, fraud prevention, security, and device-level personalization
Session management, analytics, advertising personalization, and cross-site behavior tracking
Service improvement, AI model training, analytics, and personalization
Invite features, social integration, and cross-referencing against user database
Service delivery, personalization, model training, and content moderation
Payment processing, billing, fraud detection, and financial reporting
Cross-Platform Tracking
OpenAI uses cookies and device identifiers to track users across third-party websites for targeted advertising (Free/Go users only). The Atlas browser feature collects browsing history. Device contact uploads are cross-referenced against OpenAI's entire user base to identify and potentially target non-users for future sign-up campaigns.
Tracking Methods:
First-party Cookies
Cookies set by OpenAI.com to maintain sessions and store user preferences
Third-party Cookies & Pixels
Tracking pixels and cookies from analytics providers (e.g., Google Analytics) and ad networks placed on OpenAI properties and third-party sites to track user behavior, measure conversions, and enable cross-site retargeting
Device Fingerprinting
Collection of device and browser characteristics (OS, browser type, user agent, screen resolution, fonts, plugins) to create unique device identifiers for tracking across sessions and devices without explicit consent
Login-based Tracking
When users log into OpenAI accounts, their activity can be linked across devices and sessions, enabling cross-device profile building
Web Analytics
Analytics scripts embedded in OpenAI properties to collect usage data, session information, and user interaction patterns
Terms of Service Updates
Expanded restrictions on AI Output for consequential decisions
The new version explicitly prohibits using Output relating to persons for decisions with legal or material impact, including credit, educational, employment, housing, insurance, legal, and medical decisions. The previous version's language was cut off and incomplete, but the new version provides comprehensive coverage of high-stakes decision categories.
Effective: January 1, 2026
Added disclaimer about third-party endorsements and offensive content
New language clarifies that Output may be incomplete, incorrect, or offensive and does not represent OpenAI's views. Additionally, third-party product or service references in Output do not imply endorsement or affiliation. This is a clarification rather than a substantive rights change.
Effective: January 1, 2026
Updated URL format in links throughout document
All internal links were converted from relative paths (e.g., /policies/service-terms/) to absolute URLs (e.g., https://openai.com/policies/service-terms/). This is a technical/formatting change with no impact on user rights or obligations.
Effective: January 1, 2026
AI & Data Training
openai uses your content to train AI
Below is what's used and how (if at all) you can object.
What Content Is Used
Chat prompts and messages
User-written prompts and conversation text used to train and improve AI models
Uploaded files
Documents, code, and other files uploaded to OpenAI services used for model training
Images
Images uploaded to or generated through OpenAI services used for model training
Audio recordings
Audio files and voice input used for model training and improvement
Video content
Video files uploaded to OpenAI services used for model training
How to Object
You can submit an objection using the steps below.
- 1
Log into your OpenAI account, navigate to Settings > Privacy controls, locate 'Improve model training' or 'Use conversations to improve our models', and toggle OFF. This applies to new conversations after the change is made.
Why We Analyzed openai
TrueTerms automatically audits privacy policies and data practices using advanced machine learning to keep you informed and protected. This scorecard is based on the latest available public terms of service and privacy policies as of 2026.