ChatGPT's Mac app saved your chats in plain, unprotected text

The ChatGPT app for Mac was saving your conversations as plain text in a spot that was not encrypted, which means not scrambled for privacy. A Threads user, @pvieito, found the flaw in an app that was less than two weeks old. OpenAI says a new version fixes it.

What happened

The chats were stored on the computer itself, so someone would have needed access to the Mac to read them. That is a real hurdle. But Mashable notes that bad actors are increasingly getting into people's computers through remote methods. Plain text is easy to read once they are in, including any work details you typed.

OpenAI offers the Mac app on its own website, not through Apple's Mac App Store. Apple sets strict rules for apps in its store. Apps distributed elsewhere are not held to the same standards.

What to do

If you installed the app from OpenAI's website, get the latest version. The steps are in the box above. OpenAI told The Verge it had shipped a new version that encrypts these conversations. The reports describe only the Mac app.

What is not known

The material does not say how many people were affected or whether anyone's chats were actually accessed. The timing is awkward for OpenAI, which recently announced a partnership with Apple, a company known for putting privacy first.