What to Know About Privacy When Sharing ChatGPT Conversations

Updated

Sharing a ChatGPT conversation means the content leaves your private chat and becomes viewable by anyone who has the link, so treat every share as a potential public post. That applies whether you use OpenAI's built-in sharing or a third-party tool. ShareGPT, the Chrome extension that popularized one-click sharing, is now deprecated: its site states, "ShareGPT is deprecated. Please use OpenAI's built-in sharing instead," and thanks users for sharing over 438,000 conversations. If you're still deciding how to share, the practical question is no longer which tool exists but what each method exposes and who controls it.

The core privacy trade-off

A shared conversation is a snapshot of text, not a private message. Once a link exists, you generally can't control who forwards it, screenshots it, or feeds it into another system. Two variables matter most:

  • Visibility: who can open the link (anyone with the URL vs. a restricted audience).
  • Control: who can revoke or change the share later, and whether the content passes through a third party.

How the two approaches differ

Dimension OpenAI's built-in sharing Third-party extensions (e.g., ShareGPT)
Where data goes Stays within OpenAI's own product Content is sent to the extension's service
Who controls privacy settings OpenAI, via its official controls The third-party developer
Revocation Handled through OpenAI's sharing features Depends on the third party; may not be guaranteed
Current status Recommended replacement ShareGPT is deprecated

The key distinction is the middleman. With built-in sharing, your conversation isn't routed through an outside company's servers. With a third-party extension, the conversation is transmitted to that service to generate the shareable page — meaning an additional party handles your data, under their own terms.

What to check before you share

Run through this list on the actual conversation text, not from memory:

  1. Personal identifiers — names, email addresses, phone numbers, account numbers, addresses.
  2. Credentials and secrets — API keys, passwords, tokens, internal URLs.
  3. Third-party content — anything about other people who didn't consent to being shared.
  4. Work or client material — confidential documents, code, or business details pasted into the chat.
  5. Metadata and context — custom instructions or system prompts that may reveal more than the visible messages.

If any item is present, redact it in a copy before sharing rather than sharing the original thread.

Practical guidance

  • Prefer OpenAI's built-in sharing over deprecated or unfamiliar third-party tools, since the platform itself manages the privacy settings.
  • Assume any shared link can become permanent and public; don't share what you wouldn't post openly.
  • If you must use a third-party tool, read what it does with your data before connecting it, and check whether you can delete the shared copy afterward.
  • When in doubt, summarize the conversation in a new message instead of sharing the raw thread.

The short version: sharing is publishing. Choose the method that keeps the fewest parties between you and your data, and scrub sensitive content before the link exists.