> privacy & data controls
ChatGPT's privacy settings live in Settings > Data Controls and Settings > Personalization. You control whether chats train the model, whether ChatGPT remembers you, and you can go off-the-record or export everything. The recurring surprise: "deleted" and "temporary" still involve short retention windows for safety.
// privacy & data controls
4 entries// faq
How do I stop ChatGPT from training on my chats?
Settings > Data Controls, then turn off "Improve the model for everyone." Chats stay in your history but are not used for training, and the setting syncs across your whole account. It does not disable safety systems, which may still use limited context in rare high-risk cases.
Does Temporary Chat really leave no trace?
It will not appear in your history, will not use or create memories, and will not be used for training — but OpenAI may keep a copy for up to 30 days for safety and abuse monitoring. If it uses a GPT with actions, that third party's retention applies instead.
If I delete a chat, does ChatGPT forget what it learned?
No. Memories are stored separately from chat history and survive deleting the chat they came from. To fully forget something, delete it from the memory summary and every source it appears in. Deleted saved memories may be logged up to 30 days.
How do I download my ChatGPT data?
Settings > Data Controls > Export data > Export, then Confirm. ChatGPT emails a link to a ZIP of your chats and account data. The export can take up to 7 days, and the download link expires 24 hours after you receive it.