November 12, 2025
Privacy vs Paywalls: Grab popcorn
Fighting the New York Times' invasion of user privacy
OpenAI says “hands off our chats” as commenters cry spin, hypocrisy, and chaos
TLDR: OpenAI says The New York Times wants 20 million private ChatGPT conversations and is fighting the demand. Commenters are split: some call it PR spin and hypocrisy over web scraping, others see legal overreach and back privacy—raising big questions about who gets to peek into your most personal AI chats.
In a dramatic privacy showdown, OpenAI blasted The New York Times for demanding 20 million private ChatGPT chats, framing it as an attack on users’ most personal messages. They promised beefed-up safeguards like client-side encryption and warned that, if this demand succeeds, your chats could end up with lawyers and consultants. But the comments section lit up like a bonfire: cynics saw pure public relations, with one calling it “an incredibly cynical attempt at spin” and another snarking that OpenAI is no saint after scraping “literally everything” to build its tools. The mood? Half righteous fury, half side-eye.
Others argued this is legal “discovery” gone wild, and cheered OpenAI for pushing back on what they see as a fishing expedition. Commenters mocked the company’s slogan—“Trust, security, and privacy”—posting it as a meme, while a spicy jab quipped, “I’ll trust the people not asking for a government bailout.” Meanwhile, skeptics shouted pot, meet kettle, noting the irony of OpenAI casting itself as goody-two-shoes defender of privacy after scraping news sites. The drama peaked with accusations of hypocrisy, worries about user data, and popcorn gifs. Bottom line: the community is split between privacy warriors and spin-detectors, and both sides are loud.
Key Points
- •OpenAI says The New York Times is demanding 20 million private ChatGPT user conversations as part of its lawsuit.
- •OpenAI opposes the request, calling it an overreach that risks user privacy and is unrelated to resolving the case.
- •OpenAI claims the NYT previously sought to remove users’ ability to delete chats and demanded 1.4 billion conversations; OpenAI resisted.
- •OpenAI is accelerating a privacy/security roadmap, including client-side encryption and automated safety detection with limited human review.
- •OpenAI notes NYT lawyers referenced another AI company that turned over 5 million private chats in an unrelated case; OpenAI says it is irrelevant and will continue to appeal.