Are My ChatGPT Messages Private? - The Washington Post
AI chatbots have become popular among millions of users who want quick and easy access to information. Chatbots such as ChatGPT, Bing, and Bard are designed to provide answers to your questions by using knowledge gathered from various sources on the web. However, these chatbots have similar privacy flaws to other popular technologies. In many cases, these tools are influenced by advertising and marketing, which means that users should be wary of their personal information being passed on to third parties.
If you use chatbots to obtain information on sensitive topics, such as your health, you should think twice before revealing too much information. ChatGPT, Bing, and Bard all save the text you type in, which is used to train their AI models to provide better answers. However, Google and Microsoft, which use AI chatbots, leave room in their privacy policies to use chat logs for advertising purposes. This means that if you type in a question about a particular health condition or product, you may start seeing ads on that topic appearing on your device. This is a potential risk to your privacy, particularly when it comes to sensitive health-related information.
When it comes to privacy, OpenAI is a better option. OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT, says it only saves your searches to train and improve its models. It does not use chatbot interactions to build user profiles or advertise.
When using AI chatbots, be aware that human reviewers may audit the chatbot’s responses, meaning that they will see your questions and responses. Companies that store your data for extended periods create privacy and security risks. They could be hacked, or your personal information could be shared with untrustworthy business partners.
The internet contains a wealth of health information, and AI chatbots may be better than regular search engines in avoiding the junk. However, these models do present challenges as they have been shown to provide incorrect information, which can present a danger if users rely on the incorrect information. Therefore, the limitations of the technology should be understood, and users should check the privacy policy of the companies that offer AI chatbots.
If you want to protect your privacy, you can use privacy-protective browsers such as DuckDuckGo or Brave. Before you sign up for any AI chat-based health service, such as a therapy bot, it is important to check the company's privacy policy to see if it uses data to "improve its services" or shares data with unnamed "vendors" or "business partners."
