If you’re a ChatGPT Free, Plus, Pro, or Team user, or using the OpenAI API without a Zero Data Retention (ZDR) agreement, your deleted data may now be retained under court order. This shift stems from ongoing litigation, yet many affected users only found out weeks after it began.
According to OpenAI’s Help Center, deleted conversations are typically removed from systems within 30 days—unless required for legal or security reasons. This legal carveout may be technically consistent with current practice, but it wasn’t clearly surfaced to users at the time the order took effect.
This does not apply to ChatGPT Enterprise, EDU, or API users with ZDR agreements. But it does affect the majority of public-facing ChatGPT and API users.
For those of us working with sensitive material including source code, product plans, strategy docs this introduces uncertainty around how long that data persists and who may access it down the line.
Even if the access is limited, ambiguity about retention is a real concern. OpenAI published a blog post explaining the legal situation. But users found out there, not in the product.
This is exactly when a UI notice is critical. A modal, a badge, a banner. Anything other than business as usual.
When deletion stops meaning deletion, trust starts to fray. And that’s not just a legal problem—it’s a product one.