Here's How to Remove Your Information From OpenAI's Servers

Picture this: You're creating your very first ChatGPT account. You're tapping in your email address and creating a password…and you're hit with a couple of disclaimers regarding the use of your information. To move forward, you have to acknowledge these disclaimers. But you might not be totally comfortable with what you're about to agree to. 

The three disclaimers you'll have to accept cover various topics. One simply defines what ChatGPT is and what it does. One lets you know that ChatGPT is not going to always yield accurate results. The third lets you know you shouldn't share sensitive information. The disclaimer reads, "Chat history may be reviewed or used to improve our services" and points you to OpenAI's help center for more information. 

If you agree but then decide later you're not totally comfortable with how OpenAI is using the information you share with it or the content it generates for you, you do have the option to remove this data. However, it's not as simple as you may think.

Read on to find out exactly how to scrub your data from OpenAI's servers. For more, here's how to upload files to ChatGPT and all of the hidden AI features available on your phone right now. 

How to remove your information from OpenAI's servers

You'll need to jump through a few hoops before you can wipe your information. And you'll be managing two types of information. Essentially, what you're doing is telling ChatGPT that you don't want OpenAI to use your messages going forward to train its chatbot and to delete your history so that your previous messages won't be training the chatbot any further either. 

All you'll need to do to stop OpenAI from training on your personal information is: 

1. Open ChatGPT and click your profile name in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen. 
2. Open the Data Controls tab. 
3. Toggle the Chat History and Training setting off.

Now, any new chats you make will not be used to train OpenAI's models or be saved in your chat history. Note that after disabling Chat History and Training, OpenAI will retain your chats for 30 days to "monitor for abuse" and then will permanently delete them. 

What if I want to disable model training but retain my Chat History?

Say you don't want your data used for model training but you'd like to keep your chat history. It's trickier than disabling model training and chat history, but it's still fairly easy. All you'll have to do is: 

1. Navigate to OpenAI's Privacy Portal.
2. Click the Make a Privacy Request button in the top right hand corner of the screen.
3. Select I have an OpenAI account.
4. Select Do Not Train on My Content.

This will preserve your chat history while disabling model training. 

For more, here's why you can't have AI chatbots without LLMs and the difference between AI and AGI.

Editors' note: CNET is using an AI engine to help create some stories. For more, see this post.