Dropbox says it is not sharing your files with OpenAI by default

Dropbox says it is not sending your files to OpenAI on its own. Some users accused the company of sharing their data after an AI setting drew attention online. Dropbox says files only go to an outside AI service when you actively use its AI features.

What the AI feature does

Dropbox has no chatbot of its own. It teamed up with OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, on a feature for paying subscribers that answers questions and summarizes large files, according to its help page. To do that, Dropbox sends your file to OpenAI and passes the reply back to you. The report says OpenAI keeps that data on its servers for only 30 days.

Worry grew after Amazon CTO Werner Vogels posted on X on Dec. 13 about how to turn the feature off. Some users feared it was switched on automatically.

What Dropbox says

CEO Drew Houston replied that outside AI services are only used when customers actively engage with Dropbox AI features. A spokesperson told CNBC that customer data is not used to train or fine-tune OpenAI's language models.

Some users later claimed the off option had been hidden. Dropbox denies that. It says the AI third-party toggle only appears for people who have access to its AI features. It also says no setting sends customer data to a third-party AI service automatically or passively.

• Check your Dropbox settings for an AI third-party toggle.
• If you do not see it, you may not have AI access.
• Decide whether you want AI features used on your files.