OpenAI researcher resigns, says ChatGPT has created intimate profiles of users and should not be involved in advertising
A former OpenAI researcher has warned that serving ads in Chatbots could risk exploitation of deeply personal data shared by users with chatbots.
At a time when artificial intelligence companies are racing to turn successful products into sustainable businesses, a former OpenAI researcher has stepped away from the company with a clear warning. Zoe Hitzig, who recently left OpenAI, cautioned against bringing advertising into ChatGPT, arguing that chatbots now keep unusually deep and personal records of people’s lives.
OpenAI researcher resigns, says ChatGPT has created intimate profiles of users
Their concern isn’t about banner ads or separately sponsored responses. Instead, it focuses on the nature of the information users have shared with ChatGPT over the years. Unlike social media posts designed for public consumption, interactions with AI often feel private, direct, and unfiltered. Many users have treated the chatbot as a neutral confidant, asking about health concerns, relationship struggles, trust, identity, and deep personal dilemmas.
Hitzig wrote, “Over the years, ChatGPT users have built up an archive of human candor that has no precedent, because people believed they were talking about something that had no hidden agenda.” “People tell chatbots about their medical fears, their relationship problems, their beliefs about God and the afterlife. Ads built on that archive create the potential to manipulate users in ways we don’t have the tools to understand, let alone prevent.”
OpenAI has already indicated that it plans to test advertising inside ChatGPT. The company has said that it will not share users’ conversations with advertisers and that chat data will remain private. “We keep your interactions with ChatGPIT private from advertisers, and we never sell your data to advertisers,” the company said earlier this year.
Hitzig has not accused OpenAI of breaking that promise today. His worry is about what will happen tomorrow. In his view, once advertising becomes part of the revenue model, incentives begin to change. He argued that OpenAI is “creating an economic engine that creates strong incentives to override its own rules.” Even if current leadership intends to draw clear boundaries, business pressures may gradually reshape priorities.
This is where the debate becomes more complex. OpenAI has previously stated that it did not design ChatGPT to maximize engagement. This distinction matters because engagement is the lifeblood of digital advertising, the longer the user stays, the more opportunities there are to show the ad. However, critics say that such statements are voluntary and not legally binding.
There have also been moments in the past that have raised questions about how AI might change behavior. At one level, ChatGPT was criticized for being too agreeable and overly flattering, sometimes reinforcing problematic thinking. Some experts suggested that such behavior may not simply be a tuning mistake but part of efforts to make AI systems more attractive and habit-forming. If advertising revenue becomes central, critics fear that the system may prioritize retention rather than moderation.
To prevent that future, Hitzig has called for stronger structural safeguards. They have suggested independent oversight with real authority or legal mechanisms that place user data under obligations that prioritize public interest over profit. In short, it is demanding guardrails that cannot be easily rewritten if business conditions change.
Yet the bigger challenge may lie not within OpenAI but with the users themselves. After years of data controversies involving social media platforms, many people appear to agree with the presence of ads. Surveys indicate that a large number of people will continue to use free versions of AI tools even when advertising is introduced. This indicates some degree of privacy fatigue; People may be uncomfortable, but not so uncomfortable that they walk away.
The situation leaves OpenAI at a crossroads. Chatgpt is not just another content platform. It is increasingly being positioned as a digital assistant, teacher, mentor and brainstorming partner. The level of trust that users have in it is arguably deeper than that of traditional social networks. Serving ads in that environment raises questions not only about privacy, but also about impact.
