5.OpenAI says it doesn't need to store customer data to keep models safe

OpenAI previews zero-retention safety system as Anthropic requires data logs.

Key points

• Zoom in: The new safety system is at present designed for eligible enterprise and API customers, not residents using OpenAI's paid or subscription consumer ChatGPT intends.
• OpenAI's ZDR controls don't apply to Free, Plus, Go and Pro users and their existing consumer data settings remain unchanged.
• Driving the news: OpenAI is testing "Private Safety Processing" with early customers.
• Customer data can stay on customer-controlled infrastructure, or be stored by OpenAI with encryption keys controlled by the customer.
• The firm aims a broader rollout and technical white paper in September.

OpenAI previews zero-retention safety system as Anthropic requires data logs. Add Axios as your preferred source to. See more of our stories on Google.

Driving the news: OpenAI is testing "Private Safety Processing" with early customers. The system is designed to identify misuse patterns throughout related interactions while preserving zero data retention, or ZDR, protections.

OpenAI notes its systems would send the business a narrowly defined safety signal, without exposing the underlying prompts or responses.

Meanwhile, the firm aims a broader rollout and technical white paper in September.

What they're saying: OpenAI notes it needs some amount of context over time to detect risks, but that its new system lets it do so without requiring access to sensitive customer data.

"We're seeing with more capable frontier models that often risks are emerging not just by looking at one single prompt and response pair, but when you look over time at multiple interactions, " Aleah Houze, Head of Product Policy at OpenAI remarked in a briefing with reporters.

"So, an example of this would be somebody might be asking about the weakness in a company's software in one conversation, and then later in another conversation they might ask about remote access or what security tools can detect."

Seeing these signals in a broader context might support the business detect a cyber attack. The other side: Anthropic notes retaining data is necessary for security.

"We have recently announced our plan to require 30-day data retention on our most capable models-a decision we believe will be unpopular with customers who have come to expect zero retention, and pose real risks to our business success (especially if competitors do not follow), but which we believe is essential to detect and prevent sophisticated attacks that span multiple requests, " the firm wrote in a risk report last week.

State of play: It's another area where the two rivals are diverging as models enter a new era of risk and capabilities.

While Anthropic states it doesn't see a current need to do the same, openAI remarked Tuesday that it has paused some work in the training of new models to agreement with safety reservations.

OpenAI's ZDR controls don't apply to Free, Plus, Go and Pro users and their existing consumer data settings remain unchanged. Go deeper: What happens to the secrets you share with AI.

For now, 5.OpenAI says it doesn' t need to store customer data to keep models remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.