OpenAI's ChatGPT has been found to track user activity across websites using an ad collector, raising concerns about user privacy. The mechanism involves setting a cookie called __obi, which is scoped to the .openai.com domain and tied to the user's ChatGPT account.
When a user visits a website that has installed OpenAI's ad code, the code sends the __obi cookie to OpenAI, along with data about the page being browsed. This includes information about products being searched for, articles being read, and purchase behaviors.
The process works by having ChatGPT create an identifier, which is then signed and sent to the user's browser. The browser stores the identifier as a cookie, which is then sent to OpenAI when the user visits a website with the company's ad code installed.
The data collected by OpenAI includes identity information, such as email addresses and phone numbers, which are hashed before transmission. The company also collects information about the user's browsing behavior, including the URLs of pages visited and the actions taken on those pages.
OpenAI's use of the __obi cookie has been observed on multiple websites, including Chewy, Wayfair, and Eventbrite. The company has not responded to questions about why the cookie is classified as an analytics cookie, or whether users who grant analytics consent but refuse marketing consent are still tracked.
The use of the __obi cookie has implications for user privacy, particularly given the sensitive nature of the information that users may share with ChatGPT. As AI-powered chat products become increasingly popular, concerns about data collection and tracking are likely to grow.
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