A bug in ChatGPT caused certain prompts private user data would appear in Google Search Console (GSC), a tool that website builders use to monitor search traffic.
As reported by Ars Technica, this allowed some queries, originally sent to the OpenAI chatbot, to fwere visible to other people with access to GSCputting the privacy of those conversations at risk.
OpenAI clarified that the problem has already been resolved and that it only affected a small number of queries. The company explained that this was a technical error that caused some requests to be accidentally sent to GSC, where they could be seen by other users.
Some experts, such as Jason Packer, owner of the consulting firm Quantable, pointed out that this incident could be related to OpenAI’s practice of pulling information from Google to answer user questions.
This is part of the privacy issues that AI chatbots, including ChatGPT, have faced, from legal requests for complete conversation histories to criticism over the use of personal data.
Anyone who uses ChatGPT or other AI chatbots You should be aware that shared information may not always remain private. This error demonstrates that complete privacy is not guaranteed when interacting with these tools.
The bug has now been fixed, affecting only a small set of people, but it serves as a warning about the privacy risks when using AI chatbots.