In a prior study, the researchers had found that users were increasingly turning to chatbots like ChatGPT to get advice on sensitive topics like health, finance, mental health, and employment, so much so that it was “now becoming more like a social partner than just a tool,” lead author Abhisek Dash said.

Building upon that finding, this time around they also looked into what kinds of sensitive information get stored by the chatbot and just how. They found that 52% of the memory entries contained information about users’ psychological states, including their desires, intentions, emotions, and beliefs.