How to Keep Your ChatGPT Conversations Out of Its Training Data
OpenAI recently announced that it has added a new feature which allows ChatGPT users to turn off their chat history. ChatGPT is an AI-powered machine learning algorithm that generates written responses after understanding language queries.
ChatGPT users interact with the language algorithm by asking questions which are stored by OpenAI for training its machine learning models. The new feature enables users to select which conversations they want to use for ChatGPT training.
Conversations that users start when chat history is disabled will not be used to train or improve machine learning models and won't appear in the chat history sidebar. OpenAI will retain new conversations for 30 days and review them only when needed to monitor for abuse before permanently deleting them.
Why the New Feature Was Introduced
The new control feature was introduced after several incidents involving ChatGPT. Early this month, reports revealed that Samsung employees had mistakenly shared confidential company information with ChatGPT. In another incident, ChatGPT exposed chat histories to others using the tool at the same time, which prompted OpenAI to take the tool offline. These incidents drew the attention of a data protection agency in Italy which ordered a temporary ban for the tool until an investigation was conducted.
Along with the new feature, OpenAI has also launched a ChatGPT Business subscription that will keep users' input out of its training data. Users can also export their chat history for local storage by clicking the Export data text in the expanded Settings window. Users will receive an email with a button link to the file containing all of their conversations.
How to Turn off Chat History & Training
Here's how to disable Chat History & Training to stop your data from being used to train ChatGPT:
- Log in to ChatGPT and click the three dots next to your name to open a menu.
- Choose Settings from the menu.
- The Settings menu will appear in the middle of the screen. Click Show next to Data Controls to expand the window, and then toggle the switch next to Chat History & Training to the off position.
Note that disabling Chat History & Training will also turn off ChatGPT's conversation history feature. Chats created after disabling the option won't appear in the history sidebar, but cached conversations found in the sidebar of the page remain.
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