'Not covered under legal privilege': Sam Altman to people who use ChatGPT as therapist

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has warned that conversations with AI tools like ChatGPT are not legally protected and could be disclosed in legal proceedings, especially when they involve sensitive personal matters. Speaking on the This Past Weekend podcast hosted by comedian Theo Von, Altman said the tech industry has not yet developed a legal or policy framework to ensure user confidentiality in AI interactions.

“People talk about the most personal sh*t in their lives to ChatGPT,” Altman said. “People use it – young people, especially, use it – as a therapist, a life coach; having these relationship problems and [asking] what should I do? And right now, if you talk to a therapist or a lawyer or a doctor about those problems, there’s legal privilege for it. There’s doctor-patient confidentiality, there’s legal confidentiality, whatever. And we haven’t figured that out yet for when you talk to ChatGPT.”

Altman further warned that this lack of legal protection could result in private conversations being disclosed in court. “So if you go talk to ChatGPT about your most sensitive stuff and then there’s like a lawsuit or whatever, we could be required to produce that, and I think that’s very screwed up,” he said.

“I think we should have the same concept of privacy for your conversations with AI that we do with a therapist or whatever — and no one had to think about that even a year ago,” Altman added.

The remarks highlight growing concerns over privacy as more users turn to AI for emotional support, therapy-style conversations, and life guidance. While encrypted messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Signal offer end-to-end privacy, ChatGPT conversations can be accessed and reviewed by OpenAI employees for training and safety purposes.

OpenAI states that chats on the free version of ChatGPT are deleted within 30 days, but some may be retained for legal and security reasons. Altman acknowledged that this privacy gap could impact the future use of AI systems for deeply personal matters.