What Are the Cookies Tracking You on OpenAI's Website?

OpenAI uses many tracking cookies on its websites, including tools from Meta and Reddit that can stay active for up to 400 days, according to the company's cookie policy. Right now, the company is facing a federal investigation over its privacy practices, with critics arguing it may be breaking consumer protection laws.

Think of a cookie like a digital tag that follows you around the web. When you visit OpenAI's site, the company and its partners place these tiny files on your computer to remember who you are and what you do online. Some of these tags stick around for months or even a year.

The Cookies Being Set

OpenAI sets several cookies from Reddit that last 90 days. Meta's cookies are more aggressive — some of them stick around for seven days, but at least one stays for 400 days. That's longer than most websites typically keep this kind of data.

On ChatGPT's main website, OpenAI uses special cookies to track which marketing messages you're willing to see. These last for six months. The site also drops cookies to remember your language preference and which device you're using — these stay for a full year.

Why This Matters: The Federal Investigation

In March 2023, a group called the Center for AI and Digital Policy filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, saying OpenAI was collecting and handling data unfairly. They asked the government to pause ChatGPT updates while regulators looked into the issue.

A few months later, the FTC started its own investigation in July 2023. The agency wanted to know if OpenAI was breaking laws designed to protect your privacy and reputation.

The Center for AI and Digital Policy filed again with more complaints about how OpenAI was collecting and keeping data.

What This Reveals About OpenAI's Business

These cookies show that OpenAI is using the same advertising and tracking tools that big social media companies use. If OpenAI was only running an AI research lab, it would not need these kinds of tracking systems.

The fact that some cookies last for a year suggests OpenAI is collecting information for business reasons — like figuring out who to show ads to or how to get new users — rather than just keeping the service running smoothly.

The longer these cookies persist, the easier it is for OpenAI and its partners to track your behavior across different websites and time periods. This goes beyond what is strictly needed to run ChatGPT.

A Pattern We've Seen Before

When cloud computing became a big deal in the mid-2000s, regulators also struggled to figure out how existing privacy laws applied to new technology. Federal agencies had to figure out what privacy rules should mean for a completely different way of storing and processing data. Often, enforcement actions from that era set the standard that shaped how the whole industry operates today.

The FTC's investigation could result in similar enforcement action as soon as 2024. If the agency decides OpenAI misled people about how it collects and keeps data, that could set a template for how other AI companies need to behave.

What Happens Next

How OpenAI resolves this investigation will likely affect how other AI companies handle your data going forward. The company's current cookie practices follow existing disclosure rules, but they may not match evolving expectations for transparency and user control in the age of AI.

The outcome could reshape industry practices for how AI services collect and keep your information — whether you're a consumer using ChatGPT or a business using OpenAI's tools.

For now, OpenAI's cookie practices sit at the intersection of building an AI service and running a marketing operation. The result is a data collection footprint that goes well beyond what most users see when they type a question into ChatGPT.