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OpenAI challenged a May 13, 2025 federal court order requiring it to preserve and segregate ChatGPT and API output-log data that otherwise would have been deleted. The order arose from copyright litigation led by The New York Times and was a litigation-preservation measure—not an order giving the Times unrestricted access to every ChatGPT conversation.
The dispute later moved to a more specific production process involving approximately 20 million retained, de-identified consumer ChatGPT logs. The status and scope of ongoing obligations have changed through later court orders, so the original headline that OpenAI must preserve “all ChatGPT data” is too broad.
The short version
- The May 13, 2025 order required OpenAI to preserve and segregate “all output log data that would otherwise be deleted” going forward, until further order.
- That requirement could override ordinary deletion requests, but preservation does not automatically mean disclosure to the plaintiffs.
- OpenAI objected that the order was too broad, burdensome, and inconsistent with user privacy and deletion expectations.
- OpenAI said consumer ChatGPT and API content were covered, while ChatGPT Enterprise was excluded after a May 27, 2025 clarification.
- Later orders addressed a defined set of about 20 million de-identified logs, rather than every OpenAI record or every user’s complete history.
As of September 2026, the available record shows a continuing and evolving discovery dispute. It does not support saying that all ChatGPT chats were handed to The New York Times, that every deleted conversation was produced, or that the original May 2025 order remained unchanged indefinitely.
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Why the court order was issued
The New York Times and other news plaintiffs sued OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging that copyrighted news works were used in developing AI systems and that ChatGPT could reproduce or provide portions of protected material. The underlying litigation is described in Associated Press coverage and in OpenAI’s account of the case.
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The plaintiffs argued that ChatGPT output logs could provide evidence about whether users obtained or reproduced copyrighted news content. That was the stated discovery rationale. It does not mean the court found that users had done anything wrong, or that the plaintiffs were entitled to inspect people’s private conversations without limits.
What the May 13 order actually required
The magistrate judge directed OpenAI to preserve and segregate output-log data that would otherwise be deleted. The directive applied going forward and remained in place until further order of the court.
In practical terms, “preserve” means preventing routine deletion or destruction so potentially relevant evidence remains available. “Segregate” means keeping the preserved material separately for litigation purposes. The order concerned output logs—records associated with interactions or outputs generated through relevant OpenAI services—not model weights, all internal company records, every piece of telemetry, or every OpenAI database.
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The order followed earlier discovery discussions about OpenAI’s deletion of ChatGPT output-log data and whether it could retain and isolate material subject to deletion requests. The judge had not initially granted the broad preservation request. A later order denied OpenAI’s request for reconsideration or modification, without prejudice to renewal, as described in the court record.
Why OpenAI objected
OpenAI’s objections are arguments by a party to the litigation, not findings that resolve every privacy or legal question. In its public response and a separate privacy-focused statement, OpenAI said the order:
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- was overly broad;
- could preserve sensitive conversations from people who were not parties to the case;
- could undermine user expectations surrounding deletion;
- might create conflicts with privacy laws and contractual commitments;
- would impose significant storage, security, and engineering burdens; and
- should be replaced with narrower methods such as targeted searches or sampling.
OpenAI also argued that retaining large amounts of unrelated user data creates risks even when the data is not ultimately disclosed. The news plaintiffs, meanwhile, argued that the logs could be important evidence and later made their own allegations about OpenAI’s handling of datasets and ChatGPT logs. Those later allegations should be treated as contested, not established facts.
Which data was covered?
| Data or product | What the available record indicates |
|---|---|
| Consumer ChatGPT | Covered by the preservation order, according to OpenAI’s public explanation. |
| Free, Plus, and Pro consumer output logs | Discussed as consumer ChatGPT output-log data; the relevant treatment depends on the applicable court orders and product category. |
| OpenAI API content | OpenAI said API content was covered by the specific preservation requirement. |
| ChatGPT Enterprise | OpenAI said the court clarified on May 27, 2025 that Enterprise was excluded from this preservation order. |
| Already-retained logs | Later became part of disputes over production, sampling, de-identification, and secure access. |
| Deleted or deletion-requested data | Could be preserved instead of destroyed under ordinary deletion practices. |
The Enterprise distinction matters, but it should not be overstated. Exclusion from this particular order is not a guarantee that enterprise data is immune from another legal hold, subpoena, contract requirement, or court order. Businesses should rely on their current agreement and data-governance documentation.
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This is the most important distinction in the dispute.
Preservation prevents potentially relevant data from being deleted. It does not automatically decide who receives it, whether user identities are disclosed, what searches are permitted, whether the data is admissible, or whether it proves copyright infringement.
Production is the later step in which specified material is supplied or made available under court-defined procedures. A preservation order alone did not give the Times unrestricted access to all ChatGPT conversations.
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Later proceedings addressed approximately 20 million retained, de-identified consumer ChatGPT output logs for merits sampling and analysis. A December 2, 2025 order directed production after de-identification, and a December 9 order addressed production and possible costs for noncompliance. The relevant court materials are available through this production opinion and this later order.
That process is different from saying that every user’s complete chat history was handed over. The categories should be kept separate:
- data preserved but never produced;
- logs selected for sampling;
- de-identified logs made available under court supervision; and
- data that the plaintiffs allege OpenAI failed to preserve or produce.
Were deleted chats given to The New York Times?
It cannot be stated categorically. The May 2025 order required OpenAI to preserve data that otherwise would have been deleted. That means a deletion request could be overridden or delayed for preservation purposes. It does not, by itself, establish that every deleted chat was later produced to the plaintiffs.
OpenAI has said that ordinary consumer chats are generally scheduled for permanent deletion within 30 days, subject to legal and security exceptions. That is OpenAI’s policy description, not a promise that overrides a court-ordered litigation hold.
Nor should “de-identified” be treated as synonymous with “anonymous.” Removing direct identifiers can reduce exposure, but a conversation may still contain a name, employer, address, medical detail, distinctive event, or unusual wording that creates re-identification risk.
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What happened to OpenAI’s challenge?
The word “appeal” can obscure the procedural details. The immediate dispute began with a magistrate judge’s discovery order. OpenAI sought reconsideration or modification and pursued district-court review or objections. A later order denied reconsideration without prejudice. OpenAI’s public statements said it continued to challenge the preservation requirement.
That is not necessarily the same as a conventional appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The available sources establish district-court review and objections, but they do not conclusively establish the final status of every appellate filing or every category of preserved data as of September 2026. Readers should distinguish between:
- a motion asking the issuing judge to reconsider;
- an objection or review request directed to the district judge under the discovery rules; and
- a formal circuit-court appeal.
Later preservation arrangements also changed the practical framework. Court materials refer to a defined corpus, de-identification, secure review, sampling and search protocols, and changes or termination of some ongoing preservation obligations. A later stipulation reportedly ended ongoing preservation obligations under a subsequent preservation order while retaining already-preserved material for the litigation.
Timeline
| Date | Development |
|---|---|
| January 22, 2025 | Discovery discussions addressed deleted ChatGPT output-log data and whether it could be preserved and segregated. |
| May 13, 2025 | The magistrate judge ordered OpenAI to preserve and segregate output-log data that otherwise would have been deleted. |
| May 27, 2025 | OpenAI said the court clarified that ChatGPT Enterprise was excluded, while consumer ChatGPT and API content remained covered. |
| June 2025 | OpenAI publicly described the obligation as indefinite retention of covered consumer ChatGPT and API data and said it was seeking further review. |
| October 9, 2025 | Later preservation arrangements were entered in the consolidated litigation. |
| November 7, 2025 | A court order addressed production of approximately 20 million retained, de-identified consumer ChatGPT output logs for merits sampling. |
| December 2, 2025 | The court denied reconsideration and directed production within seven days after de-identification. |
| December 9, 2025 | The court denied a stay request, directed production, and warned that noncompliance could result in cost sanctions. |
| July 9, 2026 | News plaintiffs reportedly sought sanctions in a related discovery dispute, alleging obstruction involving datasets and logs. Those allegations remain contested. |
What ordinary users should do
This dispute does not mean every ChatGPT conversation is public. It does show why users should not treat deletion controls as an absolute guarantee in every circumstance.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches- Limit highly sensitive prompts. Do not enter information that could cause serious financial, professional, medical, or personal harm if retained under an exceptional legal process.
- Understand the product you use. Consumer ChatGPT, API services, and enterprise offerings can have different contracts, retention rules, administrator controls, and legal-process treatment.
- Do not assume temporary chats are immune. A temporary or short-retention setting may operate differently when a legal hold applies.
- Review business contracts. Companies using an API or workplace AI tool should examine data-processing terms, retention schedules, regional hosting, audit rights, and legal-hold procedures.
- Use enterprise controls where appropriate. Centralized identity, permissions, logging, and governance may be valuable, but an enterprise plan is not legally immune from court orders.
- Remember that geography matters. This was a U.S. federal-court dispute. The interaction with privacy and deletion laws in other jurisdictions requires jurisdiction-specific analysis.
These are practical privacy steps, not legal advice.
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What this means for businesses evaluating AI tools
The commercial lesson is not that one provider can guarantee immunity from discovery. Courts can issue preservation orders to companies holding relevant data, regardless of whether the service is marketed as consumer, enterprise, or API-based.
Organizations comparing AI deployments should evaluate:
- contractual data-handling commitments;
- retention and deletion controls;
- administrator permissions and auditability;
- identity and access management;
- regional hosting and data-transfer terms;
- legal-process and litigation-hold procedures; and
- whether the organization can minimize or control the data sent to the provider.
Potential options include ChatGPT Enterprise, the OpenAI API, Microsoft Azure OpenAI, Google Gemini for Workspace, and Anthropic Claude for business. None should be described as automatically exempt from legal preservation. Product availability, pricing, regional terms, and retention controls should be confirmed directly with each provider before purchase.
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Why the dispute matters beyond OpenAI
The case presents a broader problem for AI providers: courts may seek evidence from systems containing enormous volumes of third-party prompts and outputs, even when most users have no connection to the lawsuit.
Future courts may have to balance:
- the risk of spoliation against the privacy interests of unrelated users;
- technical storage capacity against proportionality and security costs;
- targeted searches against the possibility of missing rare evidence;
- statistical sampling against the need to capture unusual outputs;
- de-identification against the risk of re-identification; and
- ordinary deletion rights against litigation-preservation duties.
The same questions could arise for search engines, coding assistants, medical AI tools, workplace copilots, and enterprise chatbots.
The Bottom Line
Bottom line: OpenAI challenged a court order requiring it to preserve output-log data that would otherwise have been deleted. The order did not mean that the Times received every ChatGPT conversation. Later proceedings involved a defined set of approximately 20 million de-identified consumer logs, while the broader preservation and production framework continued to evolve.
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