OpenAI has begun rolling out a lock for ChatGPT conversations. You can hide selected chats from regular history and search, then open them with a four-digit PIN or supported device authentication. This will help prevent accidentally embarrassing screen shares, but it also creates a new opportunity for people to misunderstand what “private” means.
In this case, locking a chat does not add end-to-end encryption, change retention, or change whether eligible conversations can be used to improve OpenAI’s models. Information remembered before you locked the conversation remains in memory. Authorized enterprise compliance tools can still access eligible workspace data. With a tip of the hat to Inigo Montoya: “Private. You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
This is a useful tool for keeping the evidence of your drunk chatting away from prying eyes. It’s pretty good for keeping your significant other, children, or nosy coworkers out of your chat business.
Importantly, resetting a forgotten PIN permanently deletes the locked chats and content protected by that PIN. OpenAI says even their customer support teams cannot recover that data. Keep that in mind. (Better yet, keep your PIN in mind.)
Locked chats can still draw on regular memory, so they don’t establish a clean separation between business and personal information. If you mix business and personal data in your ChatGPT app, which I do not recommend, use this feature as a little extra protection and follow your company’s security protocols regarding what data should and should not be fed into the model.
Every company needs a Claw strategy. Do you have one?
Author’s note: This is not a sponsored post. I am the author of this article and it expresses my own opinions. I am not, nor is my company, receiving compensation for it. This work was created with the assistance of various generative AI models.
About Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with AI strategy, implementation and governance, as well as technology, media and marketing. Named one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices in Technology, he is a bestselling author, covers tech and business for Fox 5’s Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN, and writes the popular daily business blog Think About This. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.