8 Total
4 High severity
4 Medium severity
0 Low severity
Summary

This is OpenAI's US privacy policy explaining how it collects and uses your data when you use ChatGPT and other OpenAI products. The most important thing to know is that by default, your conversations with ChatGPT — including everything you type and every response generated — may be used to train OpenAI's AI models. You can turn off this training use of your data by going to ChatGPT Settings > Data Controls and disabling 'Improve the model for everyone.'

Technical Summary

OpenAI's US Privacy Policy governs the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information by OpenAI, L.L.C. in connection with its services including ChatGPT, the API, and related products, relying on legal bases including consent, contractual necessity, legitimate interests, and compliance with legal obligations under applicable US state privacy laws. The policy creates significant obligations including granting users rights to access, correct, delete, and opt out of certain data processing, while obligating OpenAI to disclose categories of personal data collected, purposes of collection, and categories of third-party recipients. A notable deviation from standard practice is OpenAI's explicit acknowledgment that it collects conversation content — including user prompts and AI-generated outputs — and may use this content to train its AI models, with opt-out available only through a settings toggle rather than being opt-in by default, creating asymmetric consent architecture. The policy engages CCPA/CPRA (Cal. Civ. Code §1798.100 et seq.), various US state privacy laws including Virginia VCDPA, Colorado CPA, Connecticut CTDPA, and Texas TDPSA, with enforcement by the California Attorney General, state AGs, and the FTC under Section 5 of the FTC Act. Material compliance considerations include the breadth of sensitive data categories collected (including health-related information, location data, and biometric-adjacent voice and image data), the use of conversation data for AI model training, and the engagement of numerous third-party advertising and analytics vendors including Meta, Google, LinkedIn, Reddit, and Bing whose tracking scripts are embedded in the policy page itself.

Evidence Provenance
Captured May 2, 2026 06:02 UTC
Document ID CA-D-000010
Version ID CA-V-001160
Wayback Machine View archived versions →
SHA-256 6b353c1589a72be1536014a6333192a72a329bfe07d9e879dd16e0b7b3a60cbd
✓ Snapshot stored ✓ Text extracted ✓ Change verified ✓ Cryptographically signed
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Change Timeline
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Analyzed Changes

2 changes analyzed since monitoring began.

What changed OpenAI updated their OpenAI Privacy Policy on May 02, 2026. Change detected: 1 sentence(s) added, 1 sentence(s) modified. Document contained 155 sentences after update.
What changed OpenAI updated their OpenAI Privacy Policy on May 01, 2026. Change detected: 9 sentence(s) added, 12 sentence(s) modified. Document contained 154 sentences after update.
Consumer impact OpenAI's updated policy now explicitly allows your personal data — including data collected via cookies — to be shared with third-party marketing partners to advertise OpenAI products on external websites and platforms, which was not disclosed as a purpose before. Previously, data sharing with outside parties was framed around service providers bound by OpenAI's instructions; now a broader category of 'marketing partners' can receive your data with fewer restrictions. You can visit the opt-out link referenced in OpenAI's updated policy to control how your information is used for third-party advertising.
Why it matters This change means OpenAI can now share your personal data with outside advertising companies to target you across the web, which goes beyond what the previous policy allowed. Users who do not want their data used for external advertising should use the newly added opt-out mechanism immediately.

Recent Clause-Level Changes May 1, 2026

Added (4)
Third-Party Advertising Tracker Embedding High

This addition reveals new third-party tracking infrastructure and cross-site behavioral monitoring not previously disclosed, representing material expansion of data collection methods.

Sensitive Personal Information Collection High

This new provision explicitly acknowledges collection of sensitive health and financial data, which creates heightened privacy obligations and represents a significant expansion of permissible data categories.

Disclosure to Third Parties and Service Providers Medium

This addition explicitly details third-party sharing categories and law enforcement disclosure procedures, replacing the previous vague reference and providing transparency on data flow to external parties.

California-Specific Privacy Rights (CCPA/CPRA) Medium

This new provision adds explicit CPRA compliance language including sensitive data limitation rights, representing alignment with 2023 California privacy law amendments not present in previous version.

Removed (3)
Third-Party and Affiliate Data Sharing

While replaced by more detailed disclosure provisions, the previous high-severity framing of affiliate sharing has been deprioritized in the current version.

Cross-Border Data Transfers

Removal of explicit cross-border transfer provision eliminates transparency on international data movement mechanisms (e.g., standard contractual clauses, adequacy decisions).

GDPR Regional Rights (EU Users)

Absence of dedicated GDPR provision in current version potentially indicates either consolidation into general user rights or reduced emphasis on EU-specific compliance.

Modified (4)
AI Model Training on Conversation Data (Default Opt-In)

Previous version had no excerpt data, but current version now explicitly states opt-out mechanism is available in account settings rather than implicit or unstated.

User Rights: Access, Correction, Deletion, and Portability

Previous version had no excerpt, current version now consolidates deletion, export, and portability rights into single provision with explicit reference to Privacy Portal URL.

Children's Privacy and Age Restriction

Previous version had no excerpt data, current version now adds explicit requirement for parental consent for users aged 13-18 and provides contact mechanism for child data concerns.

Data Retention

Previous version had no excerpt, current version now explicitly details deletion/anonymization commitment and expanded retention purpose scope.

View full change record →
High Severity — 4 provisions
Medium Severity — 4 provisions

Cross-platform context

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Applicable Regulations

EU AI Act
European Union
BIPA
Illinois, USA
CCPA/CPRA
California, USA
CFAA
United States Federal
CAN-SPAM
United States Federal
DMCA
United States Federal
DSA
European Union
GDPR
European Union
UK GDPR
United Kingdom