OpenAI · Privacy Policy (ROW)

Conversation History and Data Retention Controls

Medium severity
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Why it matters (compliance & risk perspective)

Even with history disabled, OpenAI retains your conversations for 30 days — meaning there is no immediate deletion option for users who want their data removed right away.

Consumer impact (what this means for users)

OpenAI collects a wide range of personal data including your conversation content, device identifiers, location, and information from third-party sources, and may use this data to train its AI models. Users who do not opt out may have their personal conversations — including sensitive topics discussed with ChatGPT — incorporated into future model training. You can opt out of model training by going to your ChatGPT account Settings > Data Controls and disabling 'Improve the model for everyone.'

How other platforms handle this

Shopify Medium

If you are a merchant operating a Shopify-powered store, and you close the store, stop paying your subscription fees, or we terminate your account, we retain store information for two years before we begin the deletion process.

DocuSign Medium

We keep your personal information for no longer than necessary for the purposes for which it is processed. The length of time for which we retain personal information depends on the purposes for which we collected and use it and/or as required to comply with applicable laws as set out in our data re...

Anthropic Medium

You also are able to delete individual conversations, which will be removed immediately from your conversation history and automatically deleted from our back-end within 30 days.

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View original clause language
You can turn off your chat history in ChatGPT. This will prevent new conversations from being used to train our models. Conversations in accounts where chat history is disabled will be retained for 30 days before being permanently deleted. You can also review and delete specific conversations in your history.

Applicable regulations

CCPA/CPRA
California, USA
FCRA
United States Federal
GDPR
European Union
GLBA
United States Federal
HIPAA
United States Federal
UK GDPR
United Kingdom

Provision details

Document information
Document
Privacy Policy (ROW)
Entity
OpenAI
Document last updated
March 5, 2026
Tracking information
First tracked
March 10, 2026
Last verified
April 27, 2026
Record ID
CA-P-002437
Document ID
CA-D-00006
Evidence Provenance
Source URL
Wayback Machine
SHA-256
f3c083059dff1a3f26f2ce10f0072ca60f38c6921517ae6dd07e528e4bfc7ce2
Verified
✓ Snapshot stored   ✓ Change verified
How to Cite
ConductAtlas Policy Archive
Entity: OpenAI | Document: Privacy Policy (ROW) | Record: CA-P-002437
Captured: 2026-03-10 03:38:17 UTC | SHA-256: f3c083059dff1a3f…
URL: https://conductatlas.com/platform/openai/privacy-policy-row/conversation-history-and-data-retention-controls/
Accessed: May 4, 2026
Classification
Severity
Medium
Categories

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Frequently Asked Questions

What does OpenAI's Conversation History and Data Retention Controls clause do?

Even with history disabled, OpenAI retains your conversations for 30 days — meaning there is no immediate deletion option for users who want their data removed right away.

Is ConductAtlas affiliated with OpenAI?

No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by OpenAI.