OpenAI has issued an replace to its ChatGPT app for Mac, after a developer found the app was domestically storing customers’ conversations with the chatbot in plain textual content.


Pedro José Pereira Vieito advised The Verge‘s Jay Peters: “I was curious about why OpenAI opted out of using the app sandbox protections and ended up checking where they stored the app data.”

That led Pereira Vieito to develop “ChatGPTStealer,” a easy app to exhibit how straightforward it’s to load the chats in a textual content window outdoors of the ChatGPT app. After efficiently attempting out the app for himself, Peters stated he was additionally in a position to see the textual content of conversations on his pc simply by altering the file identify, indicating the extent of the privateness threat.

The ChatGPT Mac app is out there solely by means of OpenAI’s web site, which is why it has not been obligated to comply with Apple’s sandboxing necessities that apply to software program distributed through the Mac App Retailer. The oversight principally meant every other operating app or course of may doubtlessly entry the ChatGPT conversations with out prompting the consumer for permission.

After The Verge contacted OpenAI concerning the difficulty, the corporate launched an replace that it says encrypts the chats. “We are aware of this issue and have shipped a new version of the application which encrypts these conversations,” OpenAI spokesperson Taya Christianson advised the web site. “We’re committed to providing a helpful user experience while maintaining our high security standards as our technology evolves.”

After downloading the replace (v1.2024.171), Pereira Vieito’s app now not works, and Peters stated he was now not in a position to see his conversations with the chatbot in plain textual content.

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