German authorities are investigating ChatGPT’s use of personal data. Credit: Mojahid Mottakin on Unsplash.

OpenAI has rolled out a new feature for its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT that will allow users to turn off chat history.

“We have introduced the ability to turn off chat history in ChatGPT. Conversations that are started when chat history is disabled will not be used to train and improve our models, and will not appear in the history sidebar,” the Microsoft-backed firm said in a statement.

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The new feature, referred to as ‘incognito mode’ by some, is aimed at providing greater privacy controls to ChatGPT users.

When the new feature is enabled, OpenAI will keep the new chats for 30 days, review them if needed and erase them permanently.

Concurrently, OpenAI said it developing ChatGPT Business to offer professionals greater control over their data.

ChatGPT Business, which is scheduled to launch in the coming months, by default will not use users’ data to train the AI model.

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The development comes amid rising concerns about how ChatGPT and other similar AI chatbots use customers’ data.

Last month, Italian authorities imposed a temporary ban on ChatGPT over a potential violation of privacy laws.

The regulator, which also launched an investigation, said that OpenAI does not have a “legal basis” to collect and process “personal data to ‘train’ the algorithms”.

Speaking to Reuters, OpenAI CTO Mira Murati said her firm complied with European privacy laws and was striving to reassure regulators.

She added that the new features were not the result of Italy’s ban but rather of months of work to put users “in the driver’s seat” when it comes to data collection.

Earlier this week, German authorities launched an investigation into ChatGPT’s use of personal data, media reports said, citing AFP.