Is ChatGPT safe? Privacy, data use and your rights in the EU

Is ChatGPT safe to use? It depends on what you type into it and which settings you choose. OpenAI says that on individual plans (Free, Go, Plus and Pro) it may use your conversations to train its models unless you switch that off, that business and enterprise workspaces are not used for training by default, and that deleted chats are removed from its systems within 30 days. This guide sets out what OpenAI publishes about data use, retention and your rights if you live in the European Economic Area, with every statement taken from its help center and its Europe privacy policy and checked on October 6, 2026. It covers privacy; it is not a security audit of ChatGPT and not legal advice.

What does "safe" mean here?

Three different questions hide behind it: whether your data is handled properly (privacy), whether the answers are right (accuracy), and whether the tool can be abused or manipulated (security). This guide answers the first. On accuracy, language models can produce confident wrong answers, so check anything that matters against a source; on security, anything an assistant reads, such as a web page or a document, can try to give it instructions, which our guide to agents explains with the OWASP risks.

Does ChatGPT train on your conversations?

By default on individual plans, it may. OpenAI's help center states: "When you use our services for individuals, such as ChatGPT and Codex, we may use your content to train our models." You choose whether your conversations help improve the models: in ChatGPT, open Settings, then Data controls, and turn off "Improve the model for everyone", or select "Do not train on my content" in OpenAI's Privacy Portal. Either is enough. After you opt out, new conversations are not used to train the models, and turning it off does not delete saved chats, which stay in your history.

Three details matter:

• Feedback overrides the opt-out. If you click thumbs up or thumbs down on a response, "the entire conversation associated with that feedback may be used to train" the models, even if you opted out.
• Temporary chats are not used for training while they remain temporary. They do not appear in your history and do not create or update memories, and OpenAI says they may be retained for up to 30 days for safety purposes.
• Work plans are different. OpenAI says that by default it does not use inputs or outputs from ChatGPT Business, Enterprise, Edu or its API to improve its models, and that managed workspaces can also set retention, memory and access rules. If you use ChatGPT for company information, an individual account is usually not the right tool; see the plans in ChatGPT pricing.

Before using content to train its models, OpenAI says it takes steps to reduce the amount of personal information in training datasets.

How long does OpenAI keep your data?

OpenAI's Europe privacy policy (updated August 24, 2026) says it keeps personal data only as long as it needs to provide the service or for other legitimate purposes such as resolving disputes, safety and security, or legal obligations. When you delete a conversation, a memory or your account, it says it removes the data from its systems within 30 days, unless it must keep it longer or the content was already de-identified and disassociated from your account because you allowed training. Temporary chats are deleted automatically within 30 days. OpenAI may keep data longer for security, safety or legal reasons, for example when content or an account is banned for violating its usage policies, or when it is legally required to.

Your rights if you live in the EEA or Switzerland

For people in the European Economic Area and Switzerland, the controller of your personal data is OpenAI Ireland Limited, in Dublin. The policy lists your rights: to access your data, to delete it, to rectify it, to transfer it to a third party (data portability), to restrict how it is processed, to withdraw consent where consent is the legal basis, and to object to direct marketing and to processing based on legitimate interests. You can exercise some of them in your account, through the Data controls section, and the rest through OpenAI's privacy portal or by email, and you can complain to the Irish Data Protection Commission, which OpenAI names as its lead supervisory authority, or to your local authority.

In the account itself, signed-in Free, Go, Plus and Pro users can export their data and delete their account from Settings. In managed workspaces, self-service account deletion is not available and self-service export is not available for Business and Enterprise; those requests go to the workspace owner (Edu workspaces may allow exports when an administrator enables them).

Does your data leave Europe?

Yes. OpenAI says it processes personal data on servers outside the EEA, Switzerland and the UK, including in the United States. For those transfers it relies on the European Commission's adequacy decisions where they exist and, for other countries, on the Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the Commission. Companies with stricter needs can look at the Enterprise plan, whose plan lists data residency support in ten regions, the EU among them.

What not to type into ChatGPT

This part is our practical advice, not OpenAI's. Treat a consumer chat like any online service: do not paste passwords, payment details, health or identity data of other people, customer lists, unpublished contracts or source code you are not allowed to share. If your job involves personal data, use the company's approved tool and workspace settings rather than a personal account, and tell your data protection officer. Our guide to the Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 covers the separate EU rules that apply to companies using these tools.

A short checklist

1. Decide on training: if you do not want your chats used, turn off "Improve the model for everyone", and avoid the feedback buttons on conversations that contain anything private.
2. Use temporary chat for one-off sensitive questions.
3. Delete chats and memories you no longer need; remember deletion takes up to 30 days to complete.
4. Export your data from Settings if you want to see what is stored.
5. Use a business plan for work data, and check your workspace's retention and memory settings.
6. Check anything important: a private chat can still be wrong. For a comparison with other assistants and their data settings, see Claude vs ChatGPT.