OpenAI's consumer opt-out wording may not cover hidden CoT, researcher warns

scaling01 · x · 2026-09-11

ShashwatGoel7 flags a potential loophole in OpenAI's consumer training opt-out policy: the opt-out covers "Input" and "Output" (together called Content), but users never receive the hidden chain-of-thought, so it's unclear whether CoT counts as "Output".

If hidden CoT is excluded, OpenAI could arguably train on the reasoning generated from user conversations, making the opt-out guarantee vacuous — a concern since CoT often contains sensitive inferences. scaling01 amplified the thread, asking whether CoTs are included in the opt-out policy.

Related event: Researcher Finds Loophole in OpenAI's Training Opt-Out Terms(3 posts)→

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