ChatGPT is now watching your browsing activity - here's how to block it
OpenAI has enacted an alarming first as tracking tools have been added to ChatGPT, letting the AI chatbot access and store your browser history across several months by enabling analytics cookies.
Cookies are something that you agree to every single time you visit any webpage on the internet, and while sometimes these are only the essential ones that are required for the site to function, many others can track your data and share that with third parties.
It's why you're likely to see ads for products you've been viewing on a completely different website, yet a form of these activity tracking cookies has been added to ChatGPT in a move that's alarmed cybersecurity experts.
This allows OpenAI to link your activity on tracked websites to your ChatGPT account, which many have interpreted as preparation for more extensive ad services that are fed to you within the AI chatbot in the future.
How does ChatGPT track your browsing activity?
Discovered by cybersecurity expert Buchodi who shared the findings on their blog, OpenAI's ad collector has started setting an analytics cookie, '__obi', which is tied to your ChatGPT account and feeds into the AI company from websites that you visit on a browser.
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"Any company that buys ads on ChatGPT installs a small piece of OpenAI code on its own site," Buchodi explains. "Loading that code, sends __obi to OpenAI along with data about the page you are browsing.
"This includes products you are searching for, articles you are reading, and purchase behaviors," the expert continues. "The bottom line is that OpenAI can connect what you do on those sites to your ChatGPT account."
This is particularly alarming as many people now receive recommendations and advice from ChatGPT that could implicitly be feeding you advertized content, and people are far more willing to share intimate or personal details with the AI chatbot compared to standard browsing.
Worryingly, it also seems to continue to work even when you're logged out, tracking your browsing activity as an 'anonymous subject' for at least 27 days after you remove your ChatGPT account from the equation.
Can you stop your activity from being tracked?
The easiest way to stop this from happening is to simply deny all non-essential cookies supplied to OpenAI and ChatGPT, which you can do either the first time that you access the service or by following these steps:
- Log in to your account on the OpenAI homepage and head to the Settings menu
- Select Data Controls, then head into Cookie Consent
- Toggle off all of the cookies that you don't want, making sure that both analytics and marketing are disabled
If you're using an iOS device then all third-party cookies will be blocked by default, regardless of whether you're using Apple's Safari browser or Google Chrome. You are subject to this tracking activity when using Chrome on Android or Windows operating systems, however, so you'll want to block third-party cookies manually from the settings of your browser of choice.
Buchodi contacted OpenAI directly to query why something classified as analytics cookies was tracking browsing behavior as if it were for marketing, yet the company's support team merely acknowledged the inquiry and indicated that observations would be shared internally for review.