If you thought the most dramatic breakup this year was a celebrity divorce, think again. Around 1.5 million users are currently ghosting ChatGPT. It turns out that Sam Altman, the boss of OpenAI, has signed a deal with the US military to put his AI models into their classified networks. For many people, this is the literal plot of a sci-fi horror film they did not sign up for.
The “QuitGPT” movement is gaining serious speed. It all started when a rival company called Anthropic told the Pentagon to get lost. Their boss, Dario Amodei, said he could not give the military unrestricted access to his AI for “ethical reasons.” Apparently, he is not a fan of mass surveillance or killer robots. Sam Altman, however, swooped in faster than a seagull on a stray chip to accept the deal. Now, users are flocking to alternatives like Claude, which has suddenly jumped to the top of the app charts.
Don’t Just Delete and Run
If you are planning to join the boycott, do not just smash the delete button and walk away. You have likely spent months or years “training” your chatbot to understand your weird habits and specific writing style. If you want to take your digital brain with you to a new service, you need to do a bit of prep work first.
- Export Your Data: OpenAI lets you download your full chat history. It is not an instant process, so request it now before you lose access forever.
- Drain the Memory: Use a specific prompt to ask the AI to list every single thing it knows about you. We are talking about your job, your family, your interests, and even that “tone of voice” you like.
- The Clean Break: Once you have your data, you can tell the system to delete your chats. Just be warned that OpenAI admits it might keep some of your data for “legal obligations” for up to 30 days, or even indefinitely if they have already “de-identified” it.
Shopping for a New Robot Friend
If you are done with Sam Altman’s military ambitions, you have plenty of other options. The protest groups are pointing people toward privacy focused tools like Confer or Lumo. Even Google’s Gemini is looking like a safer bet for some. Just stay away from Elon Musk’s Grok if you want to avoid more drama.
Moving your digital life is a bit of a faff, but if you do not want your late night poetry sessions helping a drone make decisions, it is probably worth the effort. Just remember to double check the “memories” you take with you. You might find your AI knows a bit too much about your secret obsession with 80s power ballads.
It is a brave new world out there. Just try to make sure your new assistant is not wearing a helmet and carrying a rifle.
Related topic: Tech
