OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said that conversations with ChatGPT about mental health, emotional support or personal advice are not private and could be shared in case of a legal issue. Speaking on a podcast with Theo Von, Altman said that there is currently no legal or policy framework that gives confidentiality to AI conversations, unlike the legal protections offered between a person and their doctor, therapist or lawyer.
Altman said, “People talk about the most personal sh*t in their lives to ChatGPT. People use it – young people, especially, use it – as a therapist, a life coach; having these relationship problems and [asking] what should I do? And right now, if you talk to a therapist or a lawyer or a doctor about those problems, there’s legal privilege for it. There’s doctor-patient confidentiality, there’s legal confidentiality, whatever. And we haven’t figured that out yet for when you talk to ChatGPT.”
He added that this gap in privacy laws needs to be fixed soon. “So if you go talk to ChatGPT about your most sensitive stuff and then there’s like a lawsuit or whatever, we could be required to produce that, and I think that’s very screwed up,” Altman said.
Millions of people, including teenagers and children, have started using AI chatbots like ChatGPT for emotional help, relationship advice and mental health support. But unlike end-to-end encrypted apps such as WhatsApp or Signal, which protect conversations from third parties, ChatGPT conversations can be accessed by OpenAI employees. These conversations are often reviewed to help improve the AI or to monitor misuse.
OpenAI has stated that chats from free users may be stored for up to 30 days and can sometimes be saved longer for security or legal purposes. The company is currently facing a lawsuit which requires it to preserve a large number of user conversations, except those from enterprise customers.
This raises serious concerns about how user data is handled and the lack of legal protection for users sharing personal or emotional issues with AI chatbots.
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