User Conversations Stored In Ordinary Text Forms On ChatGPT For MacOS

Illustration of the ChatGPT application in macOS (photo: dock. unsplash)

JAKARTA In June, OpenAI launched the ChatGPT application for macOS. This is the first application launched for desktop. Unfortunately, this chatbot application has privacy concerns. Some ChatGPT users for Mac are worried about the security of their data after knowing the data storage system in the Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based chatbot. Apparently, OpenAI stores all conversations in the form of text. With this storage system, sensitive user data can be exposed. All user conversations can be accessed by applications, processes, or even malware running on Mac. All of this can happen without the user knowing. This privacy issue was first exposed by Developer Pedro Vieito. Reporting from 9to5mac, the developer managed to find all user conversations in the form of plain text when viewing preferences and cache files stored by the app.

The company does not use the standard macOS sandbox system in its chatbot. Sandbox is a very important system because the app cannot access or read data from other parts without permission. Once this privacy issue is revealed, OpenAI updates its AI-based chatbot and adds end-to-end encryption in the chat room of the app. That way, user data will be more secure and cannot be accessed by anyone. If you are still using the ChatGPT launched at the end of last month, you will have to update the app. If the chatbot cannot be updated, you can revoke the app first and download a newer version.