Judge orders OpenAI to preserve deleted chats In copyright suit with NYT

OpenAI is scrambling to reassure users after a sweeping court order forced the company to indefinitely retain all ChatGPT logs—including chats users thought were deleted—sparking global privacy concerns. 

The order, issued in a lawsuit brought by The New York Times and other news publishers, could affect hundreds of millions of users worldwide, according to reporting by ARS Technica.

OpenAI said it is appealing the decision and has warned that the move threatens long-standing privacy expectations.

“We strongly believe this is an overreach by the New York Times,” said OpenAI Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap in a statement on June 5. “We’re continuing to appeal this order so we can keep putting your trust and privacy first.”

The legal clash stems from claims by the Times and others that some users may have prompted ChatGPT to generate copyrighted news articles. The plaintiffs argued that deleted chats might contain evidence of this misuse, prompting Magistrate Judge Ona Wang to grant the order just one day after the request.

To comply, OpenAI said it must now “retain all user content indefinitely going forward, based on speculation” that the news plaintiffs “might find something that supports their case.” The company stressed this directive affects users across ChatGPT Free, Plus, and Pro, as well as those using its API—though ChatGPT Enterprise, ChatGPT Edu, and API users under Zero Data Retention agreements are excluded.

The order appears to contradict the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which guarantees the “right to be forgotten.” OpenAI admitted that it's uncertain how to navigate this legal conflict. “We are taking steps to comply at this time because we must follow the law,” the company said, without offering specifics.

OpenAI's FAQ, published to clarify the situation, confirms that affected deleted chats won’t be automatically shared with the Times. The data will instead be “stored separately in a secure system” and “protected under legal hold, meaning it can’t be accessed or used for purposes other than meeting legal obligations.” Access, it said, is limited to “a small, audited OpenAI legal and security team.”

With user trust shaken and some threatening to switch to competitors, OpenAI is pushing for oral arguments in hopes that user testimony might persuade the court to reverse course.

For now, the future of deleted chats remains uncertain—and so does the balance between copyright enforcement and user privacy in the age of AI.

By Sabina Mammadli