OpenAI Ends Controversial ChatGPT Data Preservation Order Amid Copyright Lawsuit

You Can Now Permanently Delete Your ChatGPT Conversations Again

Based in London, Will is passionate about the intersection of tech and human lives, with bylines in BBC News, Vice, and more. Don't miss out on our latest stories. Add PCMag as a preferred source on Google. Now, when you delete your old conversations with ChatGPT, the logs will actually be gone for good. Earlier this year, OpenAI was forced to retain users' deleted logs as part of its ongoing multibillion-dollar copyright lawsuit with The New York Times and other news organisations. The preservation order was handed out in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York because the deleted chats were thought to possibly contain evidence of users prompting ChatGPT to generate copyrighted news articles. The order impacted hundreds of millions of ChatGPT Free, Plus, Pro, and Team users, as well as users of OpenAI's application programming interface (API), though the controversial retention policy did not impact ChatGPT Enterprise or ChatGPT Edu customers. Users with a Zero Data Retention agreement as part of their API use were also exempt The issue had caused outcry from some within the ChatGPT user community, and OpenAI's lawyers accused the NYT's lawyers of "overreach" for issuing the demands, saying that it "fundamentally conflicts with the privacy commitments" it made to its users. Meanwhile, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called the NYT's data request "unconscionable" in a post on X. https://x.com/sama/status/1938277441400934447 But earlier this week, US Magistrate Judge Ona Wang approved a joint order, first spotted by ArsTechnica, to axe the preservation order. However, all of the deletions that had already been saved under the order will still be accessible to the NYT's lawyers as evidence. Even if you can now delete your chats from ChatGPT logs permanently -- it's probably still not a great idea to share your darkest secrets with the tool. Earlier this year, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman warned that your ChatGPT conversations aren't legally protected and could be presented in court during lawsuits. In an appearance on Theo Von's This Past Weekend podcast, Altman warned that OpenAI cannot block those conversations from being used as evidence. Disclosure: Ziff Davis, PCMag's parent company, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April 2025, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

OpenAI no longer has to preserve all of its ChatGPT data, with some exceptions

The controversial preservation order requiring OpenAI to indefinitely keep records of its ChatGPT data has been terminated. Federal judge Ona T. Wang filed a new order on October 9 that frees OpenAI of an obligation to "preserve and segregate all output log data that would otherwise be deleted on a going forward basis." The case kicked off in late 2023, with the New York Times suing OpenAI for copyright infringement, alleging that the AI giant trained its models with the news outlet's intellectual property without proper compensation. In May of this year, OpenAI was ordered to retain all of its chat logs so that the NYT could investigate claims of copyright violation. In response, OpenAI appealed the court order, arguing that the preservation order was an "overreach" and risks its users' privacy. However, this latest decision means the AI giant no longer has to preserve chat logs as of September 26, except for some. The judge in the case said that any chat logs already saved under the previous order would still be accessible and that OpenAI is required to hold on to any data related to ChatGPT accounts that have been flagged by the NYT. Moving forward, the NYT is allowed to expand the number of flagged users, as it continues to comb through OpenAI's preserved records.

OpenAI Will Stop Saving Users' Deleted Posts

A controversial court order has forced OpenAI to save deleted users posts "indefinitely" as part of its ongoing legal battle with the New York Times. However, it appears that's mostly overâ€"for now. OpenAI was sued by the Times in December 2023 for allegedly using the Times's copyrighted material to train its algorithm. Other news organizations also joined the litigation. As part of that case, the AI company was previously ordered to retain its chat logs "indefinitely"â€"including deleted onesâ€"so that they could be examined for potential evidence related to the case. Ars Technica previously noted that this court order was quite sweeping, and impacted the privacy of "hundreds of millions of ChatGPT users globally." Indeed, OpenAI notably made a big stink about the order when it was instituted, characterizing it as an attack on users' privacy. "The New York Times and other plaintiffs have made a sweeping and unnecessary demand in their baseless lawsuit against us: retain consumer ChatGPT and API customer data indefinitely," said Brad Lightcap, COO, OpenAI, in June. Well, it appears the Great Chat Log Retention Saga has come to a close. Ars now reports that, on Thursday, U.S. Judge Ona Wang approved a joint measure that had been submitted by both OpenAI and the Times, which nixed the preservation order that had previously been in place, allowing the company to actually delete the deleted chat logs. That said, Ars notes that "deleted and temporary chats will still be monitored" for some users, although it's a little unclear who might be impacted. The chat logs that have already been retained will continue to be made accessible to the news organizations involved in the legal case, as part of the effort to uncover examples of chatbot "outputs infringing their articles or attributing misinformation to their publications," Ars notes. While the chat log retention drama may be over, what isn't over is the battle over copyright law currently embroiling the AI industry. At this point, OpenAI has been sued many, many times on similar grounds. So have other AI firms. The copyright issues surrounding generative AI are still largely unsettledâ€"or, rather, are in the process of being settled via the ongoing legal battles that are currently unfolding.