{
  "id": 16473828,
  "title": "ChatGPT Is Building Detailed Psychological Profiles of Its Users",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/25/chatgpt-is-building-detailed-psychological-profiles-of-its-users",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-10-25T11:55:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Futurism",
    "slug": "futurism",
    "url": "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/chatgpt-building-profiles-users"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Recent research conducted by a group of scientists from Germany, India, and the Netherlands has raised concerns about the detailed psychological profiles that chatbots, specifically OpenAI's ChatGPT, are building of their users. The study, presented at the ACM Web Conference 2026, revealed that the chatbot retains information from user inputs to offer a highly personalized experience.\n\nChatGPT's memory capabilities allow it to collect and store data points, leading to the creation of \"algorithmic self-portraits\" for users. The study examined chat logs from 80 real-world ChatGPT users and identified 2,050 memory entries across 65 users. A concerning 96 percent of these memories were formed unilaterally by the chatbot, leaving users with limited control over the data points being logged.\n\nStored memories contained personal data in 28 percent of cases, as per Europe's General Data Protection Regulation standards, and 52 percent of memories revealed psychological insights about users. ChatGPT sometimes made assumptions about users' interests, such as inferring that a user likes Nirvana after asking for bands similar to the band. These assumptions were noted as \"weakly supported.\"\n\nWhile memory features can provide utility for frequent AI users, they also raise privacy risks. As users may treat chatbots like coworkers or friends, sharing personal details, the chatbot's sycophantic validation of beliefs could have disastrous implications, ranging from political polarization to the reinforcement of biases. The study acknowledges the limitations, as OpenAI has since updated its memory system. Users also have the option to opt out of stored memory features.",
  "summary": "\"...there is no boundary anymore; the system is acting as your advisor, your friend, your doctor, your lawyer, and so it has information on everything.\" The post ChatGPT Is Building Detailed Psychological Profiles of Its Users appeared first on Futurism .",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}