OpenAI has announced it is discontinuing the feature that allowed user chats with ChatGPT to be indexed by Google and other search engines, citing privacy risks and accidental oversharing.
“This feature introduced too many opportunities for folks to accidentally share things they didn’t intend to, so we’re removing the option,” said Dan Stuckey, OpenAI’s Chief Information Security Officer, in a statement to PC Mag.
Google, which handles over 89 percent of global search queries, had the potential to expose private ChatGPT conversations widely when those chats were indexed. Other search engines like Bing and DuckDuckGo will still index some shared chats, but OpenAI confirmed that it is working to remove all previously indexed content from major platforms.
Stuckey said the indexing feature was rolled out as an experiment but is now being discontinued. While users were notified that their shared chats could become searchable via Google and similar services, many either overlooked the alert or did not fully understand how broadly their content could be accessed.
Indexed ChatGPT conversations became searchable through queries that included “site:chatgpt/share,” which could surface discussions that, while not tied to specific users, sometimes contained personal or sensitive information.
Initial coverage of this issue was reported by FastCompany, which highlighted how shared conversations could be discovered through common search tools. The exposure extended to users who copied or shared chat URLs through messaging platforms like WhatsApp, potentially making their content accessible to millions.
In a related development, Ars Technica reported that OpenAI is appealing a court order requiring the preservation of all deleted chats from users, raising further questions about data privacy and user control over AI interactions.
Edgardo Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
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