After filing an objection with Judge Stein, OpenAI took to the court of public opinion to seek the reversal of Magistrate Judge Wang’s broad order requiring OpenAI to preserve all ChatGPT logs of people’s chats.
Altman tweeted about OpenAI’s blog post, which invokes privacy as a core basis for their objection to Judge Wang’s Order.
Altman even proposed the concept of an “AI privilege” protecting the confidentiality of people’s chats with AI: “talking to an AI should be like talking to a lawyer or a doctor.“
The blog post answers some FAQ:
Why are The New York Times and other plaintiffs asking for this?
- The New York Times is suing OpenAI. As part of their baseless lawsuit, they’ve recently asked the court to force us to retain all user content indefinitely going forward, based on speculation that they might find something that supports their case.
- We strongly believe this is an overreach. It risks your privacy without actually helping resolve the lawsuit. That’s why we’re fighting it.
Is my data impacted?
- Yes, if you have a ChatGPT Free, Plus, Pro, and Team subscription or if you use the OpenAI API (without a Zero Data Retention agreement).
- This does not impact ChatGPT Enterprise or ChatGPT Edu customers.
- This does not impact API customers who are using Zero Data Retention endpoints under our ZDR amendment.
If I delete my data from ChatGPT, will it still be retained under this order?
- The New York Times is demanding that we retain even deleted ChatGPT chats(opens in a new window) and API content that would typically be automatically removed from our systems within 30 days.
- This does not impact ChatGPT Enterprise or ChatGPT Edu customers.
How will you store my data and who can access it?
- The content covered by the court order is stored separately in a secure system. It’s protected under legal hold, meaning it can’t be accessed or used for purposes other than meeting legal obligations.
- Only a small, audited OpenAI legal and security team would be able to access this data as necessary to comply with our legal obligations.
Will this data be shared with the New York Times, other plaintiffs, or anyone else?
- This data is not automatically shared with The New York Times or anyone else. It’s locked under a separate legal hold, meaning it’s securely stored and can only be accessed under strict legal protocols.
- If plaintiffs continue to push for access in any way, we will fight to protect your privacy at every step.
How long will OpenAI keep this data? Is there a known end date or review period for the court order?
- Right now, the court order forces us to retain consumer ChatGPT and API content going forward. That said, we are actively challenging the order, and if we are successful, we’ll resume our standard data retention practices.
Does this court order violate GDPR or my rights under European or other privacy laws?
- We are taking steps to comply at this time because we must follow the law, but The New York Times’ demand does not align with our privacy standards. That is why we’re challenging it.
See the rest of the blog post from OpenAI for more information.
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