The New York Times and other news organizations have successfully obtained a court order requiring OpenAI to retain all ChatGPT logs indefinitely, including deleted and temporary conversations. The order was issued by Magistrate Judge Ona Wang just days after news outlets requested it, citing the need to preserve potential evidence in a copyright case. The plaintiffs argued that ChatGPT users may have deleted chats where they attempted to use the chatbot to bypass paywalls and access news content, making the retention of logs crucial for their case.
OpenAI had previously opposed the order, claiming it would force the company to abandon its long-standing privacy norms and weaken user protections. However, U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein rejected these objections, asserting that the user agreement already allows for such data retention as part of legal processes. This ruling has placed OpenAI in a difficult position, as the company must now navigate the complex balance between data privacy compliance and the potential legal risks of exposing private user conversations.
Meanwhile, OpenAI is negotiating a process to allow news plaintiffs to search through the retained data. The company is hopeful that this process will lead to the deletion of the logs, thereby minimizing the risk of further exposure. However, this approach risks revealing instances of infringing content, which could escalate the financial damages in the case. On the other hand, the news plaintiffs are seeking to use the logs to argue that ChatGPT’s outputs dilute the market for their content, potentially weakening their fair use argument in court.
Both sides are working to minimize the retention period of the logs, with OpenAI facing the challenge of balancing privacy risks with the potential legal exposure of user data. As the negotiations continue, the outcome of this case could have significant implications for both the company and the news industry, particularly in how AI-generated content is treated in copyright disputes.