The OpenAI docs are now incredibly misleading: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8809935-how-to-delete-an...
> What happens when you delete a chat?
> The chat is immediately removed from your chat history view.
> It is scheduled for permanent deletion from OpenAI's systems within 30 days, unless:
> It has already been de-identified and disassociated from your account, or
> OpenAI must retain it for security or legal obligations.
That final clause now voids the entire section. All chats are preserved for "legal obligations".
I regret all the personal conversations I've had with AI now. It's very enticing when you need some help / validation on something challenging, but everyone who warned how much of a privacy risk that is has been proven right.
Feels like all the words of privacy and open source advocates for the last 20 years have never been more true. The worst nightmare scenarios for privacy abuse have all been realized.
> It has already been de-identified and disassociated from your account
That's one giant cop-out.
All you had to do was delete the user_id column and you can keep the chat indefinitely.
>That final clause now voids the entire section. All chats are preserved for "legal obligations".
That's why you read the whole thing? It's not exactly a long read. Do you expect them to update their docs every time they get a subpoena request?
Yes? Why is that an unreasonable request? The docs make it sound like chats are permanently deleted. As of now, that's no longer true, and the way it's portrayed is misleading.
> The docs make it sound like chats are permanently deleted. As of now, that's no longer true, and the way it's portrayed is misleading.
Many things in life are "misleading" when your context window is less than 32 words[1], or can't bother to read that far.
[1] number of words required to get you to "unless", which should hopefully tip you off that not everything gets deleted.
How is a user supposed to know, based on that page, that there's currently a legal requirement that means ALL deleted chats must be preserved? Why defend the currently ambiguous language?
It's like saying "we will delete your chats, unless the sun rises tomorrow". At that point, just say that the chats aren't deleted.
(The snark from your replies seems unnecessary as well.)