OpenAI · OpenAI Privacy Policy

Data Retention Policy

Medium severity
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What it is

We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to provide our services and fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.

Why it matters

Vague retention language means your conversation history and personal data could be held indefinitely without a clear deletion timeline, limiting your ability to predict when data will be removed.

Consumer impact

OpenAI collects your chat inputs and outputs, usage data, device identifiers, and location information when you use ChatGPT or other OpenAI services, and may use this data to train its AI models. Human employees may also review your conversations for safety and quality purposes, meaning your chats are not entirely private. You can opt out of having your data used for AI model training by submitting a request at privacy.openai.com/data-controls.

What you can do

⚠️ These actions may provide transparency or partial mitigation but may not fully address the underlying issue. Effectiveness varies by jurisdiction and individual circumstances.
  • Delete Your Data
    Visit OpenAI's Privacy Portal and submit a data deletion request to ask OpenAI to delete your personal data. Specify all data types you want removed.

Applicable agencies

  • FTC
    The FTC has authority over deceptive data retention practices under FTC Act Section 5 and has issued guidance requiring companies to maintain data only as long as necessary.
    File a complaint →

Provision details

Document information
Document
OpenAI Privacy Policy
Entity
OpenAI
Document last updated
March 24, 2026
Tracking information
First tracked
March 6, 2026
Last verified
April 4, 2026
Record ID
CA-P-000090
Document ID
CA-D-00010
Evidence Provenance
Source URL
Wayback Machine
SHA-256
90ad72975ac0d9d86d724561a29d464c061ec09345abf2fde0eccd43d6205bcf
Verified
✓ Snapshot stored   ✓ Change verified
How to Cite
ConductAtlas Policy Archive
Entity: OpenAI | Document: OpenAI Privacy Policy | Record: CA-P-000090
Captured: 2026-03-06 20:23:45 UTC | SHA-256: 90ad72975ac0d9d8…
URL: https://conductatlas.com/platform/openai/openai-privacy-policy/data-retention-policy/
Accessed: April 4, 2026
Classification
Severity
Medium
Categories

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