OpenAI trains on your conversations by default. The opt-out toggle is buried in settings. But opting out doesn't undo what's already been absorbed — and when the New York Times sued OpenAI, discovery revealed the company retains even "deleted" conversations for legal purposes. The Authors Guild found GPT could reproduce copyrighted books verbatim. Your conversations are just as reproducible. New York lawyer Steven Schwartz asked ChatGPT to research case law for a legal brief against Avianca airlines. ChatGPT invented 6 court cases — complete with fake judges, fake rulings, and fake quotes. Schwartz filed them with the court. When opposing counsel pointed out none of the cases existed, Schwartz told the judge he "did not know ChatGPT could generate false content." He was sanctioned $5,000. The case became a global cautionary tale — and OpenAI still doesn't warn users at the point of output that citations may be fabricated.
What they claim: OpenAI promotes a culture of safety research and responsible AI development
What we found: Suchir Balaji, a 26-year-old former OpenAI researcher, was found dead in his San Francisco apartment in November 2024. The medical examiner ruled suicide. Balaji had gone public months earlier arguing that ChatGPT's use of copyrighted training data was not fair use, and was a key source for the New York Times' landmark copyright lawsuit against OpenAI. He had recently retained a lawyer. His family disputed the ruling, saying he was not suicidal. He was one of the few insiders willing to speak publicly against OpenAI.
What they claim: OpenAI says it respects copyright and intellectual property
What we found: The New York Times sued OpenAI in December 2023 for copyright infringement, seeking billions in damages. The lawsuit demonstrated ChatGPT could reproduce Times articles nearly verbatim. The Authors Guild filed a separate lawsuit representing 17 authors including John Grisham, George R.R. Martin, and Jodi Picoult. Sarah Silverman, Michael Chabon, and other authors filed additional suits. OpenAI's training data included Books3 (196,640 pirated books) and Common Crawl (the entire public internet).
What they claim: OpenAI previously stated it does not sell user data
What we found: In April 2026, OpenAI updated its US privacy policy to formalise advertiser data sharing. Free and Go tier users now have marketing cookies enabled by default. OpenAI receives purchase data from advertisers — Target, Ford, and Adobe among early partners. The ad pilot crossed $100 million in annualised revenue within six weeks. The company that said it wouldn't sell your data is now sharing it with advertisers by default.
What they claim: Users can delete their data.
What we found: Deleted chats retained 30 days. Training data permanent. Memory persists separately. Court showed OpenAI CAN retain deleted data. EU Memory disabled pending AI Act.
What they claim: OpenAI positions ChatGPT as safe and beneficial AI
What we found: Italy's data protection authority (Garante) temporarily banned ChatGPT on March 31, 2023 — the first country to ban the product. Grounds: no legal basis for mass collection of personal data for training, no age verification, no mechanism for users to correct inaccurate outputs about themselves. ChatGPT was restored after OpenAI added an age gate, a privacy policy link, and an opt-out — but the Garante is still investigating. The European Data Protection Board created a ChatGPT Task Force across all EU regulators.
What they claim: OpenAI positions ChatGPT as a private AI assistant and states it does not sell user data.
What we found: A class action filed May 13, 2026, alleges OpenAI embedded Facebook Pixel and Google Analytics in the ChatGPT web interface, sharing users' chat topics, identifiers, and contact details with Meta and Google without consent. The suit cites violations of ECPA and California's Invasion of Privacy Act, seeking up to $5,000 per violation.
What they claim: Temporary Chat is private and untracked.
What we found: Not used for training, doesn't appear in history. But retained 30 days. Still subject to abuse screening. 'Temporary' means 30 days.
What they claim: ChatGPT treats all users' privacy equally.
What we found: Enterprise/API: no training. Free/Plus: training, review, retention. Memory disabled in EU. Different rules by plan and region.
What they claim: OpenAI terms state users are responsible for their use of ChatGPT outputs
What we found: Samsung engineers pasted proprietary semiconductor source code into ChatGPT for debugging and optimisation. Three separate incidents in 20 days. Samsung discovered the leaks, banned ChatGPT internally, and threatened to fire employees who used it. Apple, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Amazon, Verizon, and Deutsche Bank all subsequently banned or restricted ChatGPT for employees.
What they claim: ChatGPT gives users control over data and training.
What we found: Trains by default. Opt-out only future chats. Memory persists after deletion. Court order (May-Sept 2025) preserved deleted conversations. Operator retains screenshots 90 days. 30-day abuse screening retention even when opted out.
What they claim: OpenAI says ChatGPT outputs are reliable and useful for work, coding, writing, and research
What we found: New York lawyer Steven Schwartz used ChatGPT to write a legal brief citing 6 court cases. Every case was fabricated — the courts, the judges, the rulings, the quotes were all invented by ChatGPT. Schwartz told the judge he did not know ChatGPT could generate fake citations. He was sanctioned $5,000 and his firm was sanctioned by the court. The Avianca case (Mata v. Avianca) became the global example of AI hallucination risk in professional settings.
What they claim: OpenAI promotes safety systems and responsible AI deployment
What we found: In February 2026, Jesse Van Rootselaar killed eight people at a school in Tumbler Ridge, BC. OpenAI's automated system had flagged her account for "gun violence activity and planning" months earlier. A safety team urged management to report it. Leadership decided the threat was not "imminent and credible" and simply deactivated the account. The shooter created a new account and continued planning. Sam Altman issued a public apology. Seven families sued OpenAI in April 2026.
What they claim: Conversations are private between you and ChatGPT.
What we found: Human reviewers read conversations for accuracy/safety. Training opt-out doesn't prevent review. No disclosure of review scope. Enterprise excluded; free/Plus users are the review pool.
What they claim: OpenAI argued that ChatGPT conversation logs are private and should not be disclosed in litigation.
What we found: In January 2026, US District Judge Sidney Stein ordered OpenAI to produce 20 million ChatGPT conversation logs to copyright plaintiffs. The court rejected OpenAI's privacy argument, ruling that users "voluntarily submitted their communications" to OpenAI and thus had no reasonable expectation of privacy.