California · OpenAI · ChatGPT · Decrypt
Humans Are Reading Your ChatGPT Chats, New Lawsuit Argues
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OpenAI is being sued over who, exactly, gets to read your ChatGPT conversations.
Key facts
- The lawsuit takes aim at an internal OpenAI initiative called Project Lily, which outlet 404 Media first exposed on September 14
- A proposed class action filed this month in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California accuses the company of routing real user chats to outside contractors without properly
- 404 Media found that reviewers work off a dashboard that includes a "user memories summary"—a recap of a person's past chats that can reveal details like their general location, profession
- ChatGPT has more than 900 million weekly users, and a lot of them treat it like a diary, a therapist, or a search engine that only they can see
Summary
Two California ChatGPT users filed a proposed class action against OpenAI in the Northern District of California this month, alleging the company let outside contractors read real user conversations without proper disclosure. The complaint centers on "Project Lily," an internal OpenAI program in which contractors hired through a staffing firm summarize user prompts and score chatbot answers on a 1-to-7 scale. OpenAI has until October 13 to respond in court; the plaintiffs want the "Improve the model for everyone" setting switched off by default and consent required before any human reads a chat. A proposed class action filed this month in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California accuses the company of routing real user chats to outside contractors without properly telling people first.