OpenAI uses some customer information to power ChatGPT and other services, but like other AI providers it relies heavily on "publicly available" information scraped from the internet to train its generative models.

The big picture: The company behind ChatGPT — originally a nonprofit, now gradually transforming itself into a more traditional startup — has been relatively clear about how it uses customer data. Like most of its competitors, however, it doesn't tell the world exactly what data its models have been trained on.

In our ongoing series on What AI Knows About You, Axios is looking company by company at the ways tech giants are and aren't using their customers' information to develop and improve their products, and how users can opt out.

• Today's AI developers don't face any requirement to divulge the exact sources for their training data — but under various privacy laws, they do have to reveal what customer data they collect and how they use it.

Zoom in: OpenAI, like most AI providers, makes a strong distinction between business customers and general consumers.

• By default, ChatGPT Enterprise, ChatGPT Team and ChatGPT Edu customer data is not used to train models.
• The same goes for those using OpenAI's services via an application programming interface (API). API customers can choose to share data with OpenAI to improve and train future models.
• Consumers — both free and paid — can easily control whether they contribute to improve and train future models in their settings. (OpenAI has more details here.)
• "Temporary chats" in ChatGPT are not used to train OpenAI models, and are automatically deleted after 30 days.
• For GPTs (custom versions of ChatGPT that developers can build for others to use), there is an opt-out option for the builder of the custom GPT, allowing them to decide whether their proprietary data can be used by OpenAI for model training.

Between the lines: Apple also has an arrangement with OpenAI to access ChatGPT through Apple Intelligence, coming with iOS 18.2 and updated versions of the Mac and iPad OS.

• For those who don't log in to their ChatGPT Plus account, these Apple Intelligence requests are not stored by OpenAI, and users' IP addresses are obscured.
• For those who do link a paid ChatGPT Plus account with Apple Intelligence, OpenAI's standard privacy policies apply.
• Microsoft also makes heavy use of OpenAI services to power its many Copilots, with its privacy policies applying, as we laid out previously in this series.

The big picture: OpenAI — which faces an array of legal action from authors, newspapers and other publishers who say the company made illegal use of their content — says it offers a number of options for creators to control how their data is used.

• First, OpenAI says it has an opt-out process for web publishers to prevent its GPTbot from accessing their sites for future training of its generative AI foundation models.
• It has a separate bot (OAI-SearchBot) that is used for ChatGPT's search function. That crawler is used to help ChatGPT link to and surface websites in search results, but it is not used to train OpenAI's foundation models.
• OpenAI says it tries to remove certain information that it doesn't want its model to learn from or output, such as sites that primarily aggregate personal information.
• It also takes "a number of privacy-protective steps to reduce the processing of any incidental personal information."

Go deeper: What AI knows about you

Here's our list of picks, along with their starting price and why we think they're worth buying this year.

Between the lines: Today is Cyber Monday and many of these products are on sale.

Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses ($299): Since the first version came out, we've been big fans of these just for taking first-person photos and videos of kids and pets. The latest update improves the camera and speakers while adding a built-in AI assistant.

Oura Ring 4 ($349): This slim band offers a way to track your sleep without having to take a watch to bed, with some other health and fitness features as well.

Apple AirPods ($129): The basic set will suit many people just fine, especially with the latest upgrades, though there is now a pair with active noise cancellation for $179. That said, the $249 AirPods Pro have the added advantage of being able to act as both a hearing test and hearing aids for those who need them (and more of us need them than know it).

Infinity Game Board ($499): This tabletop game console allows for solo and family play of board, card and table games on a large screen with an intuitive multitouch interface. And this unit is more compact than the original table version we reviewed back in 2021.

PlugBug ($69.99): This family of power chargers can juice up multiple devices simultaneously, with the added benefit of built-in support for Apple's "Find My" network, so you can easily locate the PlugBug (or track whatever bag it is in). The pricier travel versions include adapters for outlets around the world.

Anker MagGo ($74.99): Power banks are another must-have in the travel bag (carry-on only, of course). Anker's line of MagGo batteries can either wirelessly connect to an iPhone or, with a USB-C cable, they will charge a broad range of devices.

Belkin BoostCharge Plus ($69.99): If wireless charging isn't a priority, this PowerBank has built-in cords for both lightning and USB-C, and can charge two devices at once.

• The Department of Commerce will institute new chip manufacturing rules aimed at preventing China from developing advanced AI weapons and surveillance tools. (Axios Pro)
• OpenAI plans to build data centers in the Midwest and southwestern U.S. (Financial Times)
• Indigenous techies are aiming to use AI to help preserve languages. (NBC)
• Elon Musk filed an injunction to stop OpenAI from shifting away from its nonprofit structure. (TechCrunch)
• Cities are starting to ban AI software that landlords use to set rent prices, claiming that it creates "an unlawful information-sharing scheme." (The Markup)

On Black Friday, three generations of our family went to Goatlandia, an animal sanctuary in Sebastopol, where we got to spend some quality time with sheep, pigs, peacocks and, of course, lots of goats.