Developer / Coding · platform.openai.comOpenAI API
Graded against 804 verified platforms, from its own policy text. Automated assessment against a published rubric — not legal advice.
“As noted above, we may use Content you provide us to improve our Services, for example to train the models that power ChatGPT. Read [our instructions(opens in a new window)](https://help.openai.com/articles/5722486-how-your-data-is-used-to-improve-model-performance) on how you can opt out of our use of your Content to train our models.”
Watch: Data retention
Start here. These are the highest-risk verified clauses AIRIN found in the platform's own policy text.
These carve-outs significantly limit the effective right to erasure. In particular, retaining banned-account content indefinitely 'to protect services' is a self-defined exception with no stated time limit, which may not be proportionate under GDPR or CCPA.
This clause creates a financial compliance exception permitting retention of payment and transaction data to satisfy accounting, dispute resolution, and regulatory requirements arising from financial transactions.
This clause creates a specific exception allowing OpenAI to retain data from banned accounts or content in order to protect services from fraud, abuse, or policy violations.
Scores derived from 67 enriched findings — same verbatim citations as below. AI-generated, not legal advice.
- OpenAI API's terms explicitly protect your inputs from training use — the policy is affirmatively favorable on this point.
- Your outputs and prompts are explicitly yours — OpenAI API's terms include affirmatively protective IP language.
- Data handling is conditional — 6 privacy or retention clauses warrant review before using OpenAI API at scale.
Derived from AI-enriched analysis of the verified findings below — informational only, not legal advice.
How to read this page: Overall risk rates what OpenAI API's own policy terms mean for your prompts, outputs, and data. The benchmark bands below grade those same verified terms relative to peers — a platform in a risky-by-default category can rate HIGH risk and still grade STRONG against its peer set. Both trace to the cited findings.
Policy benchmark
rubric v1.0 — how this is scoredBased on 204 verified, verbatim-cited findings below — read the citations.
Based on 240 verified, verbatim-cited findings below — read the citations.
Automated assessment against a published rubric — not legal advice.
Fully verified — complete core corpus captured and read in full.
- Privacy PolicyVerified - read in full - 146 citationsstaticLast captured 2026-08-12
- Terms of ServiceVerified - read in full - 105 citationsstaticLast captured 2026-08-14
Only citation-backed plan differences are shown here; absent cells mean AIRIN has not verified a tier-specific claim.
Describes commercially reasonable security measures implemented by OpenAI while disclaiming responsibility for transmission failures, security circumvention by users, or third-party website security, thereby limiting OpenAI's liability for security incidents.
"We implement commercially reasonable technical, administrative, and organizational measures designed to protect Personal Data from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. However, no Internet or email ..."
This segment excludes business API customer data from the scope of this Privacy Policy, specifying that such data is governed by separate customer agreements, thereby carving out a class of data processing from the obligations of this policy.
"This Privacy Policy does not apply to content that we process on behalf of customers of our business offerings, such as our API. Our use of that data is governed by our customer agreements covering access to and use of those offerings."
Free and Go tier users are subject to behavioral ad targeting and measurement using their personal data, which paid-tier users are not. Users should be aware this is a significant privacy trade-off for the free product.
"For Free and Go users, to personalize the ads you see on our Services (subject to your settings), and to measure the effectiveness of ads shown on our Services."
Grants U.S. state law-based right to be free from retaliation for exercising privacy rights, and incorporates a reference to California privacy rights reporting, reinforcing non-retaliation obligations.
"The right to be free from retaliation relating to the exercise of any of your privacy rights. Review our California privacy rights reporting [here](https://openai.com/policies/privacy-policy/california-privacy-rights-reporting/)."
User personal data including usage and interaction data is used for ad personalization on Free and Go tiers. This constitutes a materially different data use compared to paid tiers, and the opt-out structure means users bear the burden of disabling this use.
"For Free and Go users, subject to your controls, to personalize the ads you see on our Services and measure the effectiveness of ads shown on our Services."
Free-tier users are subject to ad personalization using their data, which is a distinct data-use practice not applicable to paid subscribers. This constitutes a meaningful tier-based difference in privacy exposure.
"For Free and Go users, you can use the advertising controls in your account settings to control what data we use to personalize the ads we show you on our Services."
This clause limits advertising data controls specifically to Free and Go tier users, granting them the right to control data used to personalize ads, reflecting a tier-specific data use right not available to all users.
"- For Free and Go users, you can use the advertising controls in your account settings to control what data we use to personalize the ads we show you on our Services."
Describes specific purposes for which collected personal data is used, including fraud prevention, communications, contact identification, and content moderation monitoring, establishing the permissible and obligatory uses of personal data under the policy.
" more.](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001047-ads-in-chatgpt)<br>- Communicate with you, including to respond to your questions, and send you information about our Services and events, for example about changes or improvements to the..."
Evidence appendix
Showing priority citations first. The full appendix is available for audit trails; not every citation is a severe risk.
"For Free and Go users, subject to your controls, to personalize the ads you see on our Services and measure the effectiveness of ads shown on our Services."
"For Free and Go users, subject to your controls, to personalize the ads you see on our Services and measure the effectiveness of ads shown on our Services."
This span carries the plan-specific language - verbatim from the policy.
User personal data including usage and interaction data is used for ad personalization on Free and Go tiers. This constitutes a materially different data use compared to paid tiers, and the opt-out structure means users bear the burden of disabling this use.
AI-generated interpretation, not legal advice.
"Similarity of content. Due to the nature of our Services and artificial intelligence generally, output may not be unique and other users may receive similar output from our Services. Our assignment above does not extend to other users’ output or any Third Party Output."
This segment limits the scope of the ownership assignment in segment 32 by clarifying that the assignment does not extend to other users' similar output or Third Party Output, constraining the user's exclusive ownership claims.
AI-generated interpretation, not legal advice.
"Improve and develop our Services and conduct research, including using your Content to train our models (subject to your [control"
The clause grants OpenAI a practical right to use submitted content for model training unless the user exercises available data controls. The opt-out nature of this right shifts the burden to the user, creating meaningful risk of inadvertent consent to model training.
AI-generated interpretation, not legal advice.
"We may receive information from advertisers and other data partners, which we use for purposes including to help us measure and improve the effectiveness of ads shown to Free and Go users on our Services. For example, we could receive information about purchases you make from these advertisers."
Inbound data from advertisers (e.g., purchase history) combined with on-platform behavior creates a detailed profile for ad purposes. Users on free tiers have limited recourse and may not anticipate their off-platform purchase data being shared back to OpenAI.
AI-generated interpretation, not legal advice.
"- For Free and Go users, to personalize the ads you see on our Services (subject to your settings), and to measure the effectiveness of ads shown on our Services. [Learn more(opens in a new window)](https://help.openai.com/articles/20001047-ads-in-chatgpt) about ads on our services;"
"For Free and Go users, to personalize the ads you see on our Services (subject to your settings)"
This span carries the plan-specific language - verbatim from the policy.
This segment states that for Free and Go users, OpenAI uses personal data to personalize and measure the effectiveness of ads, subject to user settings, establishing a tier-specific advertising data use permission.
AI-generated interpretation, not legal advice.
" Cancellation. You can cancel (opens in a new window) your paid subscription at any time. Payments are non-refundable, except where required by law. These Terms do not override any mandatory local laws regarding your cancellation rights. "
States that payments are non-refundable except where required by law, while preserving the user's right to cancel at any time and acknowledging that mandatory local cancellation rights are not overridden — a limitation on the user's refund rights with a protective carve-out for mandatory legal rights.
AI-generated interpretation, not legal advice.
"Our use of content. We may use Content to provide, maintain, develop, and improve our Services, comply with applicable law, enforce our terms and policies, and keep our Services safe. If you're using ChatGPT through Apple's integrations, see [this Help Center article(opens in a new window)](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/9737562) for how we handle your Content."
This segment grants OpenAI permission to use Content for providing, maintaining, developing, and improving its Services, complying with law, enforcing policies, and maintaining safety, establishing the broad license OpenAI retains over user Content.
AI-generated interpretation, not legal advice.
"As noted above, we may use Content you provide us to improve our Services, for example to train the models that power ChatGPT. Read [our instructions(opens in a new window)](https://help.openai.com/articles/5722486-how-your-data-is-used-to-improve-model-performance) on how you can opt out of our use of your Content to train our models."
This segment states that OpenAI may use user-provided content to train models powering ChatGPT, and references opt-out instructions, establishing a conditional training use permission subject to user choice.
AI-generated interpretation, not legal advice.
"We also collect information from other sources, like information that is publicly available on the internet, to develop the models that power our Services. For more information on the sources of information used to develop the models that power ChatGPT and other Services, please see [this help center article(opens in a new window)](https://help.openai.com/articles/7842364-how-chatgpt-and-our-language-models-are-developed)."
This segment discloses that OpenAI collects publicly available internet data to develop the models powering its services, and incorporates by reference a help center article explaining training data sources, establishing a training data collection practice.
AI-generated interpretation, not legal advice.
"Opt out. If you do not want us to use your Content to train our models, you can opt out by following the instructions in [this article](https://openai.com/policies/how-your-data-is-used-to-improve-model-performance/). Please note that in some cases this may limit the ability of our Services to better address your specific use case."
This segment establishes users' right to opt out of having their Content used to train OpenAI's models, provides a procedure for exercising that right, and notes a caveat that opting out may limit service personalization.
AI-generated interpretation, not legal advice.
"- To promote our products and services to you through direct marketing and on third-party properties, and to assess the effectiveness of those efforts, subject to your choices and controls ( [learn more(opens in a new window)](https://help.openai.com/articles/20001156));"
This segment states that OpenAI uses personal data to promote its products through direct marketing and on third-party properties, and to assess effectiveness, subject to user choices and controls, establishing a conditional marketing permission.
AI-generated interpretation, not legal advice.
" more.](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001047-ads-in-chatgpt)<br>- Communicate with you, including to respond to your questions, and send you information about our Services and events, for example about changes or improvements to the Services or offers or information that may interest you<br>- To identify your contacts who use our Services when you choose to connect your contacts and update you if they join our Services later.<br>- Prevent fraud, illegal activity, or misuses of our Services, and to protect the security of our systems and Services, including by monitoring any Content submitted or exchanged on our platforms (learn more [here](https://openai.com/transparency-and-content-moderation/))<br>- Comply with legal obligations and protect the rights, privacy, safety, or property of our users, OpenAI, or third parties, for instance to prevent harm to you or others, and to estimate your age to give you an age-appropriate experience | We may disclose this information in the following circumstances, as described above:<br>- Vendors, service providers, and affiliates to assist us in meeting business operations needs and to perform certain services and functions described above<br>- Government authorities or other third parties for the legal reasons described above<br>- Parties involved in Transactions<br>- Business account administrators for the reasons described above<br>- Parents or guardians of teen users for account linking purposes described above<br>- Other users and third parties you interact or share information with |"
Describes specific purposes for which collected personal data is used, including fraud prevention, communications, contact identification, and content moderation monitoring, establishing the permissible and obligatory uses of personal data under the policy.
AI-generated interpretation, not legal advice.
"- Depending on applicable law, you may be able to choose which cookies are used when you use our Services, and you can make choices about the use of your information for purposes of promoting our products and services to you on third-party properties (l [earn more(opens in a new window)](https://help.openai.com/articles/20001156))."
This clause grants users rights, subject to applicable law, to control cookie usage and to opt out of targeted advertising on third-party properties, conditioning these rights on jurisdictional eligibility.
AI-generated interpretation, not legal advice.
"A note about accuracy: Services like ChatGPT generate responses by reading a user’s request and, in response, predicting the words most likely to appear next. In some cases, the words most likely to appear next may not be the most factually accurate. For this reason, you should not rely on the factual accuracy of output from our models. If you notice that ChatGPT output contains factually inaccurate information about you and you would like to request a correction or removal of the information, you can submit these requests through [privacy.openai.com(opens in a new window)](https://privacy.openai.com/) or to [dsar@openai.com](mailto:dsar@openai.com), and we will consider your request based on applicable law and the technical capabilities of our models."
Disclaims reliance on factual accuracy of model-generated outputs by explaining that predictions may not be factually correct, and provides a procedure for requesting correction or removal of inaccurate personal information.
AI-generated interpretation, not legal advice.
"- Our Services may provide incomplete, incorrect, or offensive Output that does not represent OpenAI’s views. If Output references any third party products or services, it doesn’t mean the third party endorses or is affiliated with OpenAI."
Disclaims that outputs may be incomplete, incorrect, or offensive and do not represent OpenAI's views, and clarifies that references to third parties do not imply endorsement or affiliation.
AI-generated interpretation, not legal advice.
"YOU ACCEPT AND AGREE THAT ANY USE OF OUTPUTS FROM OUR SERVICE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK AND YOU WILL NOT RELY ON OUTPUT AS A SOLE SOURCE OF TRUTH OR FACTUAL INFORMATION, OR AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE."
Places sole risk of using AI outputs on the user, disclaims reliance on outputs as the sole source of truth or as a substitute for professional advice, and reinforces that OpenAI accepts no liability for output-based decisions.
AI-generated interpretation, not legal advice.
"Prevent fraud, illegal activity, or misuses of our Services, and to protect the security of our systems and Services, including by monitoring any Content submitted or exchanged on our platforms"
The clause authorizes active monitoring of all user-submitted content for fraud, misuse, and security purposes. This broad monitoring right means users have no expectation of privacy in content submitted to the platform, which has implications for confidential or sensitive inputs.
AI-generated interpretation, not legal advice.
"To prevent fraud, illegal activity, or misuses of our Services, and to protect the security of our systems and Services, including by monitoring any Content submitted or exchanged on our platforms"
Active monitoring of user content for policy enforcement is disclosed. This means prompts, messages, and exchanges are reviewed (potentially by automated systems or humans) for compliance purposes, which has implications for confidentiality of inputs.
AI-generated interpretation, not legal advice.
Common questions about OpenAI API's policies
- Does OpenAI API train its AI models on your data?
- Training possible — conditions or opt-outs apply — based on 11 verified findings from OpenAI API's published policy. Informational only, not legal advice.
- Who owns the content you create with OpenAI API?
- You own outputs — with license carve-outs — based on 3 verified findings from OpenAI API's published policy. Informational only, not legal advice.
- Can you use OpenAI API's output commercially?
- Commercial use allowed — based on 6 verified findings from OpenAI API's published policy. Informational only, not legal advice.
Clause detail — protections, your obligations, and coverage
Every clause below is a verbatim quote from OpenAI API's own published policy, read in full and linked to its exact location. Protections and user obligations are reported separately from risk because they are different kinds of clause — an obligation on you is not a risk to your data. Informational only, not legal advice.
✅ Protections found
36 verified clausesClauses in OpenAI API's policies that work in your favour — commitments the platform made to you.
- Privacy & data usesale/sharing of personal data
“Some [U.S. state privacy laws(opens in a new window)](http://help.openai.com/articles/20001055) require specific disclosures. The following table provides additional information about the categories of Personal Data we collect and how we use and disclose that…”
Incorporates by reference U.S. state privacy law disclosure requirements and cross-references earlier policy sections on personal data collection and use, serving as a structural bridge to the state-specific compliance t…
📍 Privacy Policy › “9\. Additional U.S. state disclosures”Jump to exact text → - Privacy & data usechildren's data
“Our Services are not directed to, or intended for, children under 13. We do not knowingly collect Personal Data from children under 13. If you have reason to believe that a child under 13 has provided Personal Data to OpenAI through the Services, please email…”
Restricts collection and use of personal data from children under 13, imposes an obligation to investigate and delete such data if inadvertently collected, and conditions service access for users under 18 on parental per…
- Designated security contact: privacy@openai.com
📍 Privacy Policy › “7\. Children”Jump to exact text → - Privacy & data use
“**Verification.** In order to protect your Personal Data from unauthorized access, change, or deletion, we may require you to verify your credentials before you can submit a request to know, correct, or delete Personal Data. If you do not have an account with…”
Establishes a verification procedure requiring credential confirmation before processing rights requests to know, correct, or delete personal data, including additional verification for unaccountable or suspect requestor…
📍 Privacy Policy › “9\. Additional U.S. state disclosures”Jump to exact text → - Privacy & data use
“You can exercise some of these rights through your OpenAI account using the tools described in the [Data controls ](https://openai.com/policies/privacy-policy/#data-controls) section, or you can submit your request through [privacy.openai.com(opens in a new…”
Specifies the procedural mechanisms through which data subjects may exercise their privacy rights, including account tools, a web portal, and email contacts for both general requests and the DPO.
- Designated security contact: dpo@openai.com
📍 Privacy Policy › “6\. Your rights”Jump to exact text → - Privacy & data usechildren's data
“- _Parent or Guardian of a Teen_: Teen users and their parents or guardians can choose to link their accounts, allowing the parent or guardian to manage certain settings, and receive alerts if we detect a serious safety concern. These accounts can be unlinked…”
This clause permits account linking between teen users and their parents or guardians, allowing the parent or guardian to manage settings and receive safety alerts, while granting users the right to unlink accounts at an…
📍 Privacy Policy › “3\. Disclosure of Personal Data”Jump to exact text → - Privacy & data use
“**Authorized Agents.** Depending upon where you reside, you may also submit a rights request through an authorized agent. If you do so, the agent must present authority to act on your behalf, such as signed written permission, and you may also be required to i…”
Specifies the procedure for submitting privacy rights requests through authorized agents, including requirements for written authority and independent identity verification, and provides the submission contact.
- Designated security contact: dsar@openai.com
📍 Privacy Policy › “9\. Additional U.S. state disclosures”Jump to exact text →
+ 30 more verified clauses of this kind on this platform, cited in full in the report.
📋 Rules you must follow
13 verified clausesWhat OpenAI API requires of YOU. These are your obligations, not risks to your data or IP, so they are cited here and excluded from this platform's risk rating.
- Moderation & enforcement
“Trade controls. You must comply with all applicable trade laws, including sanctions and export control laws. Our Services may not be used in or for the benefit of, or exported or re-exported to (a) any U.S. embargoed country or territory or (b) any individual…”
Imposes obligations on users to comply with all applicable trade laws including sanctions and export controls, restricts use of the Services in embargoed countries or with prohibited persons, and restricts inputs that wo…
Location: exact-text link only — source has no section structureJump to exact text → - Moderation & enforcementconduct restrictions
“Registration. You must provide accurate and complete information to register for an account to use our Services. You may not share your account credentials or make your account available to anyone else and are responsible for all activities that occur under yo…”
This segment imposes obligations on users to provide accurate registration information, prohibits sharing account credentials, assigns responsibility for all account activity to the account holder, and requires authority…
Location: exact-text link only — source has no section structureJump to exact text → - Moderation & enforcement
“What you can do. Subject to your compliance with these Terms, you may access and use our Services. In using our Services, you must comply with all applicable laws as well as our [Sharing & Publication Policy](https://openai.com/policies/sharing-publication-p…”
This segment grants a conditional permission to access and use the Services subject to compliance with these Terms and incorporated policies, and obliges users to comply with all applicable laws and referenced policies,…
Location: exact-text link only — source has no section structureJump to exact text → - Moderation & enforcementconduct restrictions
“- Attempt to or assist anyone to reverse engineer, decompile or discover the source code or underlying components of our Services, including our models, algorithms, or systems (except to the extent this restriction is prohibited by applicable law).”
This segment prohibits reverse engineering, decompiling, or discovering source code of the Services (including models and algorithms), with a carve-out where such restriction is prohibited by applicable law, protecting O…
Location: exact-text link only — source has no section structureJump to exact text → - Moderation & enforcement
“- A statement by you that the above information in your notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner’s behalf”
Requires the claimant to affirm under penalty of perjury that the notice information is accurate and that they are the copyright owner or authorized agent, imposing a legal obligation for truthfulness and establishing po…
Location: exact-text link only — source has no section structureJump to exact text →
+ 8 more verified clauses of this kind on this platform, cited in full in the report.
What the policies actually cover
16 topics- Product telemetry & usage tracking1 protective14 clauses
- Advertising & tracking1 protective11 clauses
- Sale or sharing of personal data1 protective3 clauses
- Sensitive data (biometric, location, health)3 clauses
- Children's data2 protective3 clauses
- Government & law-enforcement disclosure6 clauses
- Does not train on your content1 protective2 clauses
- Trains by default, opt-out available1 protective4 clauses
- Trains with no opt-out1 clause
- Arbitration & class-action waiver1 protective7 clauses
- Damages & liability cap1 protective7 clauses
- Indemnity direction1 clause
- Terms can change at any time3 protective9 clauses
- Deletion rights & post-termination survival4 protective12 clauses
- Auto-renewal & cancel window1 protective2 clauses
- Conduct restrictions8 obligations8 clauses
158 further verified clauses are cited on this page but not yet assigned a topic.
Cross-clause notes
Two verified clauses intersect on the same subject matter: the Privacy Policy, Privacy Policy › “4\. Retention” addresses how long content is retained, and the Privacy Policy, § 2 (How we use Personal Data) addresses use of content in connection with model training or service improvement. Both clauses are in force at the same time — read them together.
The Terms of Service describes rights the platform takes in user content, and the Privacy Policy, Privacy Policy › “3\. Disclosure of Personal Data” describes disclosure of data to third parties or subprocessors. Both clauses are in force at the same time — read them together.
The Privacy Policy, § 2 (How we use Personal Data) describes a way to decline model training, and the Terms of Service, Terms of Service › “Paid accounts” states that terms differ by plan or tier. Whether the opt-out applies on every tier is determined by those clauses together — read both before relying on the opt-out.
Verified retention clauses point in different directions: the Privacy Policy, Privacy Policy › “4\. Retention” describes broad or open-ended retention, while the Privacy Policy, Privacy Policy › “4\. Retention” describes deletion or erasure. Which clause controls in a given situation is not resolved by the documents' text alone — this is surfaced as an ambiguity, treated as Caution.
Verified training clauses point in different directions: the Privacy Policy, § 2 (How we use Personal Data) describes use of content for training or improvement, while the Terms of Service states content is not used for training. The clauses may govern different products, tiers, or data categories — the documents' text alone does not resolve it. Surfaced as an ambiguity, treated as Caution.
Automated cross-reference against the published rubric — not legal advice.
Clause intelligence
Canonical clauses and stance patterns extracted from the same gate-verified citations shown on this page.
The clause provides a deletion or time-bounded retention path.
“- **Information we retain until you delete it:** Some of our Services allow you to delete Personal Data stored in your account. For example, you can delete specific, or all, of your ChatGPT conversations, delete specific [Saved Memories(opens in a new window)](https://help.openai.com/articles/8590148-memory-faq), or delete your account. Once you choose to delete Personal Data, we will remove it from our systems w...”Open source citation
The clause provides a deletion or time-bounded retention path.
“**Information we delete automatically:** In some cases, Personal Data will be deleted automatically. For example, [Temporary Chats(opens in a new window)](https://help.openai.com/articles/8914046-temporary-chat-faq) will be automatically deleted within 30 days (unless we have to retain them for safety or legal reasons, as described further below), and your [Atlas incognito browsing history(opens in a new window)...”Open source citation
The clause provides a deletion or time-bounded retention path.
“- **Information we delete automatically:** In some cases, Personal Data will be deleted automatically. For example, [Temporary Chats(opens in a new window)](https://help.openai.com/articles/8914046-temporary-chat-faq) will be automatically deleted within 30 days (unless we have to retain them for safety or legal reasons, as described further below), and your [Atlas incognito browsing history(opens in a new windo...”Open source citation
The clause provides a deletion or time-bounded retention path.
“- **Information we delete automatically:** In some cases, Personal Data will be deleted automatically. For example, [Temporary Chats(opens in a new window)](https://help.openai.com/articles/8914046-temporary-chat-faq) will be automatically deleted within 30 days (unless we have to retain them for safety or legal reasons, as described further below), and your [Atlas incognito browsing history(opens in a new windo...”Open source citation
The clause provides a deletion or time-bounded retention path.
“Information we retain until you delete it: Some of our Services allow you to delete Personal Data stored in your account. For example, you can delete specific, or all, of your ChatGPT conversations, delete specific Saved Memories (opens in a new window) , or delete your account. Once you choose to delete Personal Data, we will remove it from our systems within 30 days unless we need to retain it for longer as de...”Open source citation
Tier matrix
Plan-level conditions detected from citation-backed clauses. Empty tiers mean AIRIN has not captured decisive tier language yet.
| Tier | Surface | Verdict | Risk | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All applicable tiers | commercial use | worsens | HIGH | 1 |
| All applicable tiers | data retention | improves | LOW | 5 |
| All applicable tiers | governing law disputes | conditional | MEDIUM | 31 |
| All applicable tiers | indemnity liability | conditional | MEDIUM | 2 |
| All applicable tiers | privacy data use | worsens | HIGH | 2 |
| All applicable tiers | subprocessors data sharing | worsens | HIGH | 1 |
| Free | data retention | worsens | HIGH | 2 |
| Free | indemnity liability | conditional | MEDIUM | 2 |
| Free | moderation enforcement | worsens | HIGH | 2 |
| Team / Business | indemnity liability | conditional | MEDIUM | 2 |
Policy evolution
Open full timelineBefore/after stance changes across captured policy versions. When no material delta exists yet, AIRIN shows the latest citation-backed stance events instead.
data sharing improved from high/sale or sell to medium/third party or vendor sharing.
“**Your Opt-Out Rights.** We don’t “sell” Personal Data. Depending upon your choices, we may share limited data with select marketing partners for purposes of promoting our products and services to you on third-party properties.”Before citation
“At OpenAI, our mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits everyone. We build tools like ChatGPT and Sora to help people learn, create, and solve problems. We at OpenAI (together with our affiliates, “OpenAI”, “we”, “our” or “us”) are committed to respecting your privacy and are strongly committed to keeping secure any information we obtain from you or about you. This Privacy Policy describes our practices with respect to personal data that we collect from or about you, and how we use it when you use our website, applications, and services (collectively, “Services”).”After citation
data sharing worsened from medium/third party or vendor sharing to high/sale or sell.
“- Transfer your Personal Data to a third party (right to data portability).”Before citation
“**Your Opt-Out Rights.** We don’t “sell” Personal Data. Depending upon your choices, we may share limited data with select marketing partners for purposes of promoting our products and services to you on third-party properties.”After citation
data sharing improved from high/sale or sell to medium/third party or vendor sharing.
“**Your Opt-Out Rights.** We don’t “sell” Personal Data. Depending upon your choices, we may share limited data with select marketing partners for purposes of promoting our products and services to you on third-party properties.”Before citation
“more.](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001047-ads-in-chatgpt)<br>- Communicate with you, including to respond to your questions, and send you information about our Services and events, for example about changes or improvements to the Services or offers or information that may interest you<br>- To identify your contacts who use our Services when you choose to connect your contacts and update you if they join our Services later.<br>- Prevent fraud, illegal activity, or misuses of our Services, and to protect the security of our systems and Services, including by monitoring any Content submitted or exchanged on our platforms (learn more [here](https://openai.com/transparency-and-content-moderation/))<br>- Comply with legal obligations and protect the rights, privacy, safety, or property of our users, OpenAI, or third parties, for instance to prevent harm to you or others, and to estimate your age to give you an age-appropriate experience | We may disclose this information in the following circumstances, as described above:<br>- Vendors, service providers, and affiliates to assist us in meeting business operations needs and to perform certain services and functions described above<br>- Government authorities or other third parties for the legal reasons described above<br>- Parties involved in Transactions<br>- Business account administrators for the reasons described above<br>- Parents or guardians of teen users for account linking purposes described above<br>- Other users and third parties you interact or share information with |”After citation
Latest stance: arbitration or waiver on governing law disputes
“These Terms of Use apply to your use of ChatGPT, DALL·E, and OpenAI’s other services for individuals, along with any associated software applications and websites (all together, “Services”). These Terms form an agreement between you and OpenAI OpCo, LLC, a Delaware company, and they include our Service Terms and important provisions for resolving disputes through arbitration. By using our Services, you agree to these Terms.”Open timeline citation
Latest stance: arbitration or waiver on governing law disputes
“OpenAI will not seek attorneys’ fees and costs in arbitration unless the arbitrator determines that your claim is frivolous. The activities described in these Terms involve interstate commerce and the Federal Arbitration Act will govern the interpretation and enforcement of these arbitration terms and any arbitration.”Open timeline citation
Latest stance: rights or controls vary by tier on tier differences
“Billing. If you purchase any Services, you will provide complete and accurate billing information, including a valid payment method. For paid subscriptions, we will automatically charge your payment method on each agreed-upon periodic renewal until you cancel. You’re responsible for all applicable taxes, and we’ll charge tax when required. If your payment cannot be completed, we may downgrade your account or suspend your access to our Services until payment is received.”Open timeline citation
Latest stance: indemnity on indemnity liability
“If you are a business or organization, to the extent permitted by law, you will indemnify and hold harmless us, our affiliates, and our personnel, from and against any costs, losses, liabilities, and expenses (including attorneys’ fees) from third party claims arising out of or relating to your use of the Services and Content or any violation of these Terms.”Open timeline citation
Capture recency
- Privacy Policy:Last captured 2026-08-12· verified 2026-08-12
- Terms of Service:Last captured 2026-08-14· verified 2026-08-14
Dates state when our pipeline captured and verified each document — not when the vendor last changed it. Documents are re-scanned on a recurring cadence; a document verified once says so until a re-scan confirms it again.
↑ 34 more findings this quarter vs last (254 vs 220). First scan: June 2026.
Compare and stack are saved in your browser. Open compare · View your stack. A correction triggers an automated re-read of OpenAI API's policies — no human edits the data.
Need this for procurement or legal diligence?
Free shows today's risk. A Stack Audit gives you a citable, verbatim-sourced PDF across your whole AI stack — and flags the moment a vendor's terms change.
Every finding above is a verbatim quote from OpenAI API's own published policy, captured to an immutable snapshot and read in full through a two-gate verification pipeline. Confidence labels and any analysis are AI-generated and informational only — not legal advice.
AIRIN Brief
Built for compliance officers, legal counsel, and SaaS founders. Subscribe to the email digest — one short brief when a tracked vendor materially changes its terms, training policy, or risk rating. Prefer in-app? Watch platforms in your alerts inbox instead.