Court ruling raises alarm over saved ChatGPT chats
Over 70 million people face potential exposure of their AI chats due to a copyright case.
A US federal court has ordered OpenAI to preserve nearly all user chats with ChatGPT, including those that users had deleted. The decision comes as part of The New York Times’s ongoing copyright lawsuit, triggering widespread privacy concerns.
The ruling means that millions of personal conversations, previously thought erased, will remain accessible during litigation. These exchanges may include medical queries, relationship issues, and other private matters shared in confidence.
Privacy advocates argue that users were not notified or allowed to object. Critics warn the US ruling sets a dangerous precedent, enabling mass data preservation in lawsuits unrelated to most users.
The Times claims users may have deleted chats to hide copyright infringement. Lawyers and privacy experts counter that people delete chats for legitimate, non-infringing reasons and should retain control over their data.
Legal experts call the preservation order excessive, noting it undermines trust in AI tools and could lead to a chilling effect on their use. The decision could reshape how user privacy is treated in tech litigation for years.
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