OpenAI states it shares personal information with advertising, analytics, and marketing partners, in addition to cloud and operational service providers.
This analysis describes what OpenAI's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
This provision authorizes sharing of personal data including identifiers, usage data, and behavioral data with advertising partners, which under CCPA may constitute a 'sale' or 'sharing' of personal information triggering opt-out rights for California residents.
Interpretive note: The policy does not enumerate specific advertising partners or the precise categories of data shared with each, making the full scope of this sharing difficult to assess from the document alone.
The updated policy removes language describing how OpenAI uses advertiser and data partner information to personalize ads and measure ad effectiveness. The policy also removes the specific mechanism Free and Go users previously had to control ad personalization through account settings. In exchange, the policy adds explicit authorization for OpenAI to identify which of a user's contacts use OpenAI services and to monitor all content submitted on the platform for fraud and misuse detection. The authorization to monitor content and identify contacts now appears in the main policy purposes section rather than in supplementary documentation. You can review the Korea Addendum if you are located in South Korea to understand region-specific privacy rules.
View change record →The updated policy removes language that previously described ad personalization controls available to Free and Go users through account settings, though the policy continues to authorize OpenAI to personalize ads and measure their effectiveness for these user tiers. Previously, the policy explicitly stated that 'For Free and Go users, you can use the advertising controls in your account settings to control what data we use to personalize the ads we show you on our Services.' This language is no longer present in the updated version. The policy still lists ad personalization as an authorized use of personal data for Free and Go users, but no longer explicitly describes how users can access controls to manage this practice. You should verify whether advertising controls remain functional in your OpenAI account settings, as the policy no longer explicitly references them.
View change record →The updated policy removes specific language stating that OpenAI receives advertiser data to personalize ads shown to Free and Go users. It also removes reference to account-level advertising controls previously described in account settings. These removals are replaced with broader language authorizing OpenAI to promote products through direct marketing and third-party properties, subject to choices and controls, but the terms no longer explicitly describe what advertiser data is collected, from whom, or how to manage it at the account level. The policy now requires users to follow a 'learn more' link to understand ad personalization controls, rather than documenting those controls directly in the privacy policy.
View change record →The policy authorizes sharing of personal identifiers and usage data with advertising and marketing partners; California residents have the right to opt out of this sharing via the privacy request form at privacy.openai.com.
How other platforms handle this
At Ledger, earning and maintaining our users' trust is a top priority. That's why we are deeply committed not only to protecting your privacy and securing your personal data, but also to being fully transparent about how we handle it.
If you are located in the European Economic Area, Switzerland, or the United Kingdom, you have the right to access, correct, or erase your personal data; the right to restrict or object to our processing of your personal data; the right to data portability; and, where our processing is based on your...
We may display advertisements on our Services and those advertisements may be targeted to your interests based on your personal information. We may share your personal information with advertising partners for interest-based advertising purposes. You may opt out of interest-based advertising by visi...
Monitoring
OpenAI has changed this document before.
Receive same-day alerts, structured change summaries, and monitoring for up to 25 platforms.
"We may share personal information with third-party vendors and service providers that support our business, such as cloud services, analytics, customer support, payment processing, and marketing. We may share personal information with advertising and marketing partners to market our services and develop our business.— Excerpt from OpenAI's OpenAI Privacy Policy
REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: This provision engages CCPA and CPRA, under which sharing personal data with advertising partners for cross-context behavioral advertising purposes may qualify as a regulated 'share' requiring a Do Not Sell or Share opt-out mechanism. The FTC Act Section 5 applies to the adequacy and accuracy of disclosures made about third-party data sharing. State privacy laws in Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, and Texas also impose restrictions on sharing personal data with third parties for targeted advertising without user consent or opt-out opportunity. GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: Medium. The disclosure is broad and does not enumerate specific advertising partners or the categories of data shared with each, which limits users' ability to assess the scope of this sharing. Compliance teams should evaluate whether the policy's disclosure of advertising partner sharing satisfies the granularity requirements imposed by CCPA and CPRA regulations. JURISDICTION FLAGS: California creates the highest exposure given the CPRA's explicit right to opt out of sharing for targeted advertising. Texas and Colorado privacy laws also impose opt-out requirements for targeted advertising data use. The presence of identifiable third-party advertising pixels (Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit, Bing) in the page source suggests active implementation of this sharing practice on the OpenAI web domain. CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: Procurement teams should confirm whether OpenAI has executed data processing agreements with each advertising and analytics vendor, and whether those agreements include appropriate data use restrictions. B2B customers whose employees access OpenAI via web browsers should assess whether behavioral tracking by third-party advertising pixels applies to their organizational accounts. COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Compliance teams should audit the Do Not Sell or Share opt-out mechanism to confirm it applies to advertising pixel-based data sharing and not only to direct data transfers. Data mapping documentation should identify each advertising and analytics partner, the categories of data shared, and the legal basis for each transfer. Teams in California should confirm that the opt-out mechanism functions at the pixel and tag level, not only at the form-submission level.
Full compliance analysis
Regulatory citations, enforcement risk, and due diligence action items.
Free: track 1 platform + weekly digest. Monitor: 25 platforms + same-day alerts. No credit card required.
Ad personalization controls removed. Contact scanning added. Advertiser data partnerships quietly dropped. A timeline of every change.
Compliance Governance Intelligence
Need to monitor specific governance provisions?
Compliance includes provision-level monitoring, governance timelines, regulatory mapping, and audit-ready analysis.
Built from archived source documents, structured governance mappings, and historical version tracking.
This provision authorizes sharing of personal data including identifiers, usage data, and behavioral data with advertising partners, which under CCPA may constitute a 'sale' or 'sharing' of personal information triggering opt-out rights for California residents.
The policy authorizes sharing of personal identifiers and usage data with advertising and marketing partners; California residents have the right to opt out of this sharing via the privacy request form at privacy.openai.com.
ConductAtlas has identified this type of provision across 25 platforms. See the full comparison.
No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by OpenAI.