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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Yes. On May 13, 2025, a federal magistrate judge ordered OpenAI to preserve and segregate output logs that otherwise would have been deleted, including chats deleted at a user’s request. That was a preservation order—not an order to immediately hand every chat to The New York Times. OpenAI said the broad, ongoing preservation obligation ended September 26, 2025, and that it returned to its standard retention practices.
What the May 2025 order required
The order came in copyright litigation brought by The New York Times and other news plaintiffs. They sought ChatGPT output logs as potentially relevant evidence. OpenAI objected to the breadth of retaining that data, citing privacy and proportionality concerns; those were the company’s arguments, not findings by the court.
On May 13, U.S. Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang directed OpenAI to “preserve and segregate all output log data that would otherwise be deleted on a going forward basis until further order of the Court.” The instruction included logs that might otherwise be removed because a user deleted a chat. The order required preservation, not immediate disclosure of every retained conversation to the plaintiffs. Read the May 13, 2025 order.
Why OpenAI objected
OpenAI publicly challenged the scope of the order and asked the court to reconsider it. The company argued that requiring retention of data users had deleted raised serious privacy concerns. In June 2025, Ars Technica reported on OpenAI’s objection and its concern about the order’s effect on deleted chats. Ars Technica’s June 4, 2025 report describes the dispute. The order itself did not establish that every retained chat was private, nor did OpenAI’s objection determine what the court would ultimately require.
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Did the broad retention order end?
According to OpenAI, its obligations under the broad preservation order ended on September 26, 2025. The court’s later record says the parties had stipulated to terminate those ongoing obligations, and that stipulation was entered on October 9. OpenAI said on October 22 that it had returned to standard retention practices. OpenAI’s October 22, 2025 litigation update and the December 2, 2025 ruling describe these developments.
OpenAI also said in its October update that limited historical data from April through September 2025 remained stored under a separate demand. That dated statement concerns a separate requirement; it does not mean the broad, forward-looking preservation order remained in force.
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How the later 20-million-log dispute differed
A separate discovery dispute concerned a limited sample of consumer ChatGPT output logs. On December 2, 2025, Judge Wang denied OpenAI’s request to reconsider and directed production of a de-identified sample. The ruling addressed production of that sample; it did not reinstate an indefinite obligation to preserve every new conversation.
| Issue | Broad preservation order | Later sample-production dispute |
|---|---|---|
| What it concerned | Output logs otherwise due for deletion, including chats deleted at a user’s request | A de-identified sample described as 20 million consumer ChatGPT output logs |
| Scope over time | Prospective preservation until further court order; OpenAI said the obligation ended September 26, 2025 | A limited historical sample, not a blanket hold on future conversations |
| What the court required | Preserve and segregate the covered logs | Produce the sample under the later discovery ruling |
| Who was included | The order covered output log data otherwise subject to deletion; the order did not describe the later sample’s customer exclusions | OpenAI said the sample came from consumer conversations dated December 2022 through November 2024 and excluded business and API customers |
The sample’s size, date range, and exclusion of business and API customers are OpenAI’s descriptions. The December ruling is available here; OpenAI’s account of the sample is in its October 22, 2025 update. The final status of OpenAI’s later challenge to the sample-production orders is not established in the available court and company statements cited here.
What deleting a chat means under OpenAI’s published policy
OpenAI’s Help Center says a deleted chat disappears from the account view immediately and is scheduled for permanent deletion from its systems within 30 days. That is a scheduled timeline, not an unconditional guarantee: OpenAI lists exceptions where data has already been de-identified and disassociated from the account, or must be retained for security or legal obligations. OpenAI’s ChatGPT retention guidance explains the policy.
OpenAI’s October 22 litigation update also said deleted conversations and Temporary Chats would be automatically deleted within 30 days, subject to legal or security exceptions. That dated statement should be read alongside the company’s current published policy, not as a claim that every chat is always erased exactly 30 days after deletion.
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Were private chats handed to The New York Times?
The May 13 order did not itself direct OpenAI to turn over every user’s chats. It required preservation and segregation. The later production ruling concerned a de-identified sample that OpenAI described as 20 million consumer output logs, rather than the entire user base’s conversations. The cited materials do not establish the final status of OpenAI’s challenge to that later production requirement.
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