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On March 20, 2023, a bug in open-source software used by OpenAI caused ChatGPT to expose the chat history titles and personal payment information of some users to other active users. The incident lasted for a nine-hour window and resulted in the exposure of names, emails, and partial credit card details for approximately 1.2 percent of ChatGPT Plus subscribers. OpenAI temporarily disabled the service to patch the bug and notified the affected users.
ChatGPT reportedly exposed titles of users' chat histories and users' private payment information to other users reportedly due to a bug, which prompted its temporary shutdown by OpenAI.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
AI systems that memorize and leak sensitive personal data or infer private information about individuals without their consent. Unexpected or unauthorized sharing of data and information can compromise user expectation of privacy, assist identity theft, or cause loss of confidential intellectual property.
Also classified as
The data leak was caused by a technical bug in the underlying software library, representing a lack of system robustness.
The incident directly involved the unauthorized exposure of users' private chat histories and sensitive payment information to other active users.
Other
Due to some other reason or is ambiguous
Unintentional
Due to an unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed
The privacy leak was caused by an unintentional software bug in an open-source library used by the deployed ChatGPT system.
A technical bug in an open-source library used by OpenAI temporarily exposed chat history titles and partial payment information of some ChatGPT users. The incident represents a minor data privacy breach with negligible national security implications, as it was unintentional, quickly patched, and did not target critical infrastructure or sovereign functions.
The report describes ChatGPT as an 'AI chatbot' that users have 'conversations' with, which fits the Assistant profile as it augments human capabilities through text generation and requires user prompts.
Risk Level 3: Limited Risk. The report describes ChatGPT as an 'AI chatbot', which falls under the Limited Risk category requiring transparency obligations.
ChatGPT is primarily deployed and used as an interactive conversational chatbot and writing assistant.
The reports provide clear, consistent, and detailed information directly from OpenAI regarding the nature of the bug, the specific data exposed (names, emails, partial credit card details, chat titles), the duration of the exposure (nine hours), and the percentage of affected Plus subscribers (1.2%).
None. The incident is clearly a technical data leak/privacy incident.
Technology
Open-Source Software Bug
A bug in open-source software led to unauthorized data exposure.
Caching Misconfiguration
The system cached and displayed incorrect user session data.
Data Inputs
Exposed Chat Titles
Chat titles and first messages were loaded into other sidebars.
Exposed Payment Details
Names, emails, and partial credit card info were exposed.
Human Factors
User Navigation Trigger
Users navigating to subscription pages viewed cached data.
Process and Methods
Delayed Detection Window
The bug was active for nine hours before being taken offline.
AI system involved
Identified by automated extraction; can differ from the alleged developers above.
