OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has raised concerns that conversations with ChatGPT are not legally protected and could potentially be used as evidence in court.
Speaking on This Past Weekend, a podcast hosted by comedian Theo Von, Altman cautioned users—especially young people—against sharing highly personal information with the AI chatbot, noting that such exchanges lack the legal protections afforded to conversations with therapists, doctors, or lawyers.
“People talk about the most personal stuff in their lives to ChatGPT,” Altman said. “Young people especially use it as a therapist or life coach, asking for advice on relationships and personal struggles.”
Unlike interactions with medical or legal professionals, Altman explained, conversations with AI models are not currently covered by confidentiality laws such as doctor-patient or attorney-client privilege.
“If there’s a lawsuit, we could be required to produce that [chat data],” he warned. “That’s a real problem.”
Altman called for urgent legal reforms to address this growing privacy gap, arguing that users should have similar confidentiality rights when interacting with AI.
“I think it’s very screwed up,” he said. “We should have the same concept of privacy for your conversations with AI as we do with a therapist or lawyer—and no one even thought about this a year ago.”
