Worrying About Your Chats With ChatGPT? Make Your Conversations Private THIS Way And Keep Your Data Safe

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Whether you’re asking silly questions or discussing something serious, your conversations with ChatGPT might contain more personal information than you realise. While ChatGPT doesn’t share your chats by default, some settings and features could make parts of your conversations visible, especially if you’re using the share option without caution. Also Read: Forget ChatGPT And Gemini Nano Banana! Microsoft Launches MAI-Image-1 - The In House Text-To-Image Tool

And yes, there have been cases where shared conversations showed up on search engines like Google. So if privacy is important to you, it’s worth taking a few minutes to update your settings. Also Read: UPI Meets ChatGPT: India Tests AI-Powered E-Commerce Payments Via OpenAI Partnership

Use ChatGPT’s Incognito Mode

To give users more control, OpenAI introduced a “Chat History & Training” setting. Basically, the incognito mode for ChatGPT. When turned off, your chats won’t be used to train AI models and will be automatically deleted after 30 days. Here’s how to turn it off:

• Log in to your ChatGPT account.
• Click on your profile (bottom-left corner on desktop).
• Select Settings.
• Go to Show Data Controls.
• Toggle Chat History & Training to OFF.

Keep in mind that even with this off, your conversations aren’t deleted immediately; they’re stored for up to 30 days for safety and moderation.

Shared Links Can Be An Issue Too

ChatGPT has a built-in Share button that creates a public link to your conversation. If you’ve ever used this, you might have unknowingly made your chat visible on the web, especially if you ticked the “Make this chat discoverable” option.

Search engines were able to index some of these shared chats, which included personal topics like mental health, career concerns, and more. OpenAI has since disabled the discoverability option, but if you’ve shared links before, it’s smart to clean them up. To delete shared links:

• Go to Settings > Data Controls.
• Click Manage next to “Shared Links.”
• Review your shared chats and remove the ones you don’t want visible.

OpenAI has clarified that your conversations are not legally protected or confidential. In rare situations, like legal investigations, your chats could be shared if required by law. So if you’re discussing something sensitive, it’s best to turn off training history and avoid using shareable links. Staying a little cautious now could save you from unwanted exposure later.