In some shocking news, some ChatGPT conversations are being indexed by Google Search, sparking widespread concerns about user privacy. The issue primarily affects shared or publicly linked conversations, not private chats. OpenAI clarified that only content users explicitly make public—such as through shared links—is searchable. Still, the situation has raised questions about data visibility and user awareness on AI platforms.
This comes just a week after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman warned users about what they share on the AI platform, saying that the chats are not private. However, many users continue to use the platform to share their 'deepest and darkest secrets and desires', something that OpenAI hasn't figured out how to keep 'private' yet.
The issue surfaced after internet users discovered specific ChatGPT interactions showing up in search engine results pages (SERPs). These indexed pages originated from “shared chat” links—a ChatGPT feature that allows users to share conversations publicly. These links are accessible to anyone and, like any publicly available web page, are eligible to be crawled and indexed by Google and other search engines. This unusual leak was first spotted by Fast Company.
One Reddit user shared, "Over 70k chats are publicly viewable, some of them are little weird, some are even some company secrets. So yeah, if you share your ChatGPT convos, they're very easy to view, literally make a custom search engine and you can search for any convo."
Another user called it a content goldmine, adding, "We now have millions of AI-human conversations indexed by Google. It's user-generated content on steroids."
Although this indexing is technically not a data breach, it raises questions about user awareness and consent. Many users may not fully understand that when they share a conversation link, it becomes part of the open web and can appear in search results unless measures are taken to prevent it.
In response Fast Company's initial reportage, OpenAI updated its system to include a “noindex” tag in shared conversation metadata, signaling to search engines not to index the content. However, for already indexed pages, removal depends on the platform’s ability to locate and de-index the links or on users deleting shared chats manually.
Users concerned about their shared conversations being indexed are advised to delete publicly shared links and avoid sharing sensitive information through these channels.
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