Ad industry listening in: AI chatbots send conversation data to tracking firms
TL;DR
Researchers at IMDEA Networks in Madrid examined nine AI chatbots, including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok and Mistral. According to netzpolitik. org, six of the nine web versions and three of eight Android apps passed conversation information to tracking or advertising services. Depending on the service, chat titles, email addresses, user IDs or chat links went to companies such as Meta, TikTok and Google.
Nauti's Take
The study finally delivers hard measurements and is an opportunity for data protection authorities to act concretely against tracking in chatbots. The risk is significant: chat titles and links often reveal sensitive topics, and even rejected cookies fail to stop most trackers.
For you, that means processing confidential content only in business or API accounts with clear data protection agreements and using share links sparingly.
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