Do you share too much with ChatGPT? Read this first. Many people treat ChatGPT like a therapist, life coach, or close friend — but that might not be as safe as it seems.

Altman's Warning on ChatGPT Privacy

In a recent episode of This Past Weekend with Theo Von, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman raised a serious concern.

He said the AI industry still doesn’t know how to keep personal chats private. When you talk to a doctor or therapist, the law keeps your info safe — but that’s not the case when you talk to an AI like ChatGPT

No Legal Protection Yet for AI Chats

Altman was responding to a question about legal protections around AI and said there's still no proper legal or policy framework in place.

“People talk about the most personal sh** in their lives to ChatGPT,” Altman said.

“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 when you talk to ChatGPT.”

Your Chat History Could Be Shared

He also warned that in case of a lawsuit, OpenAI might be legally required to share your ChatGPT history.

“I think that’s very screwed up. I think we should have the same concept of privacy for your conversations with AI that we do with a therapist or whatever — and no one had to think about that even a year ago,” he added.

When Altman asked Theo Von how he uses ChatGPT, Von admitted he avoids it because of privacy concerns. Altman agreed:

“I think it makes sense … to really want the privacy clarity before you use [ChatGPT] a lot — like the legal clarity.”

So if you’ve been opening up to ChatGPT, it's worth remembering: your chats aren't protected by law — at least not yet.