This is OpenAI's Terms of Use for consumer products like ChatGPT and DALL·E, covering what you can and can't do with these AI tools and what OpenAI can do with your conversations and inputs. The single most important thing to know is that by default OpenAI may use your conversations and the content you submit to train its AI models, and you must actively opt out through your account settings to prevent this. If you disagree with any future changes to these terms, your only remedy is to stop using the services, as continued use counts as acceptance.
Technical Summary
This document governs individual use of OpenAI's consumer-facing services including ChatGPT and DALL·E, forming a binding agreement between users and OpenAI OpCo, LLC (a Delaware company), with legal basis in contract law and incorporating by reference Service Terms, a Privacy Policy, and Usage Policies. The most significant obligations include a mandatory binding arbitration clause with class action waiver, a prohibition on users under 13 (or applicable local minimum age), OpenAI's broad right to modify or terminate services at will, and users' grant of a license to their input content for service improvement. Notable deviations from industry standard include OpenAI's explicit reservation of the right to use user inputs to train AI models (subject to opt-out), an unusually broad indemnification obligation placed on users, and the unilateral right to modify terms with as little as 30 days' notice for material changes. This document engages GDPR (for non-US users via a separate EEA/UK/Swiss addendum referenced but not reproduced here), CCPA for California residents, COPPA for age-gating obligations, the FTC Act Section 5 for unfair/deceptive practices, and the EU AI Act given the deployment of generative AI systems; compliance teams should note that the arbitration clause and class action waiver may be unenforceable in certain EU member states and other jurisdictions, and that the content licensing provisions require careful data mapping to satisfy GDPR Art. 6 lawful basis requirements.
Institutional Analysis
REGULATORY EXPOSURE: This document implicates GDPR Arts. 6, 13, 14, and 17 (lawful basis for processing, transparency, and erasure rights) enforced by EU Data Protection Authorities; CCPA §§1798.100-…
REGULATORY EXPOSURE: This document implicates GDPR Arts. 6, 13, 14, and 17 (lawful basis for processing, transparency, and erasure rights) enforced by EU Data Protection Authorities; CCPA §§1798.100-1798.135 enforced by the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA); COPPA 16 C.F.R. Part 312 enfor…
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Regulatory exposure, material risk, and due diligence action items.
If you have a dispute with OpenAI, you must resolve it through private arbitration rather than in court, and you cannot join others in a class action lawsuit against the company.
OpenAI can use the text, images, and other content you submit to ChatGPT to train and improve its AI systems, unless you turn this off in your account settings.
You must be at least 13 years old to use ChatGPT, and if you are under 18, a parent or guardian must give permission — though there is no technical age verification mechanism described.
If OpenAI gets sued or faces costs because of something you did using their service — including content you created — you must pay OpenAI's legal fees and any resulting losses.
You keep ownership of what you put in, and OpenAI says you own what ChatGPT generates for you — but you're legally responsible if the AI output or your inputs infringe someone else's copyright.
OpenAI limits its financial liability to you to a maximum of $100 or three months of payments, whichever is more, and will not pay for indirect losses like lost income or business disruption caused by AI errors.
OpenAI can change its rules at any time; for important changes they'll send you an email or in-app notice, and if you keep using the service after that, you automatically agree to the new rules.
OpenAI can suspend or permanently close your account at any time, for violating their rules, for legal reasons, or simply if they decide it's in their interest — and they don't always have to tell you why.
Any legal disputes with OpenAI that aren't covered by the arbitration clause will be handled exclusively by courts in San Francisco, California, under California law — even if you live in another country.