ChatGPT, and AI chatbots in general, have taken the world by storm. And why not? There are so many things that ChatGPT can do. So many people created a ChatGPT account without a second thought. But are you worried about your chat history and data privacy? ChatGPT allows users to delete all past conversations and even their accounts. Here is a step-by-step guide to deleting your history/data and deleting your ChatGPT account.
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How to Delete ChatGPT Conversations
Deleting a conversation on ChatGPT is an easy process.
1. Go to chat.openai.com to open ChatGPT. Now on the left sidebar, you should be able to access all your previous conversations with ChatGPT. Scroll down and click on the conversation that you want to delete.
2. Now select the conversation to open it and then hover over that conversation in the sidebar. ChatGPT will display options to either edit the name of the conversation or delete it. Click on the trash can icon to delete that conversation.
3. Then click on the checkmark icon to confirm the deletion.
You can delete an entire conversation but as of now, there is no option to delete a specific message in the chat. However, there is an edit button that you can use to edit the message. Remember, once you have edited a message, ChatGPT will delete all the below messages in the conversation and reply to the edited message/question accordingly. That’s because the question and context have changed.
How to Delete All Conversations on ChatGPT
Deleting all the conversations on ChatGPT is much easier than deleting a single conversation.
1. Open chat.openai.com to open ChatGPT. Now at the bottom right corner, click on the three-dot menu beside the username.
2. In the pop-up, click on the Clear Conversations option.
3. Then click on Confirm clear conversations option to delete all the ChatGPT Conversations.
How to Turn Off Chat History
Now ChatGPT also provides an option to turn off chat history. So that you don’t have to delete your chats later. Anyhow, this setting does not sync between devices or browsers. So even if you enable this feature on your desktop, ChatGPT will be saving your chat on your phone and other devices.
1. To turn off chat history altogether, click on the three-dot menu at the bottom left corner.
2. Then in the pop-up menu that opened, click on the Settings option to open ChatGPT Settings.
3. In Settings, select the Data controls option in the left side panel. Then disable the toggle beside Chat History & Training.
To turn on chat again, you can do it from the settings or you can click on Enable Chat History option in the left side panel of ChatGPT.
How to Delete Your ChatGPT Account
There are a couple of things you need to know before deleting your ChatGPT account. First, you are accessing ChatGPT with the OpenAI account. So you will be deleting the OpenAI account, not ChatGPT account itself. When you delete your OpenAI account, you will also lose access to other OpenAI products such as DALL-E 2. Instead of deleting, you can rather clear all the conversations as shown above. That way, your ChatGPT data will be deleted but you would still be able to access other OpenAI products.
If you decide to delete the OpenAI account and lose access to all OpenAI products along with ChatGPT, know that the account deletion process is complicated. Also, you cannot get the same account back once you delete it. Having said that, here’s how to delete your account on ChatGPT.
1. Open platform.openai.com. If you are not logged in, it will redirect you to the login page. Once logged in, click on the Help option at the top right corner.
2. In the help window that appears, click on the Help option in the bottom bar.
3. Now at the bottom, you should find a Send us a message floating button. Click on it. If you are not able to find the button, wait for a couple of seconds for the button to load.
4. It will open the chatbot. Here select the Account Deletion option.
5. Then select the Delete my account option in the chat. Finally to confirm the deletion, select the Yes, delete my account option.
6. The account deletion process can take from 2-4 weeks. In the meantime, you will not be able to access your account or create a new account with the same email id.
Once your ChatGPT account is deleted completely, you will be able to create a new account with the same email id. However, your data is permanently deleted and cannot be recovered.
How to Delete Your Account on ChatGPT Through Email
OpenAI also lets you delete your account by sending an email to the OpenAI team. To delete your OpenAI account through email:
1. Open your email client. Make sure that you are sending the email from the account that you want to delete.
2. Enter deletion@openai.com in the Sender or To field.
3. Enter the subject of the email as Account Deletion Request and the body as Please delete my account. That’s it, send the email.
OpenAI will delete the account associated with that email id within 2 to 4 weeks.
Deleting ChatGPT Conversations and Account
ChatGPT allows deleting a single conversation, all conversations, and even your account. But, deleting your ChatGPT account will also delete other OpenAI accounts automatically. So unless you want to stop using other OpenAI products like DALL-E 2, it’s better to just delete all the conversations and keep the account up and running.
