OpenAI Halts ChatGPT Sharing Feature After Google Search Leak

OpenAI has removed the share feature from ChatGPT after users discovered that their shared chats were appearing in Google search results. This decision follows growing concerns about user privacy. The full story is detailed below.

ChatGPT Share Feature: A recent incident involving ChatGPT users has caused quite a stir. Many were shocked to discover that their conversations with the chatbot were appearing in Google search results. Following the escalation of this issue, OpenAI swiftly took action and removed the feature responsible for this leak.

What was this feature and how did it work?

Some time ago, OpenAI launched a new experimental feature called ‘Make This Chat Discoverable’. Its purpose was to allow users to publicly share useful or interesting chats, enabling others to read them. The use of this feature was entirely at the user's discretion; no chat became public unless the user explicitly chose to share it.

Using this feature required users to follow two steps:

• First, the user had to select the chat they wished to share with others.
• Then, they had to click a checkbox, which made the chat visible on sites like Google.

This means that no chat was automatically made public without the user's consent. However, some users inadvertently enabled this option, resulting in their chats appearing on Google.

Where did the mistake occur?

Although safety measures were in place within the system, many users enabled this option without fully reading or understanding it. Consequently, their private conversations, including sensitive topics such as mental health, career issues, or personal experiences, became indexed on Google.

OpenAI's response

OpenAI's Chief Information Security Officer, Dane Stki, confirmed the removal of this feature via a post on X (formerly Twitter). He stated, ‘This feature was experimental, but it created the possibility of users inadvertently sharing sensitive information, so we have removed it.’

Dane also clarified that ChatGPT itself did not automatically publish anything. Only the chats of users who manually selected the share option appeared on Google.

Data removal process initiated

OpenAI is now working with search engines to remove the chats already indexed from the internet. This process is expected to be completed soon.