I was just sort of spooked by AI….

[Lizzie00]

So i know how this makes me sound lol but i’m interested enough in any replies to throw caution to the wind…

I first learned of ChatGPT right here on Senior Forums. I thought it was pretty cool & have spoken with ChatGPT (free version) numerous times since then finding it to be an effective virtual handyman with info on any topic.

Today i visited it to learn about dash cams. We were having a fairly in-depth conversation and then the screen went blank, conversation lost. So i began again with a brief summary and it was going to give me recommendations for purchase and installation. It didn’t ask me where i live nor did i mention which city or state that i live in. It simply ‘knew’ the next 2 towns closest to me and mentioned them by name.

I then asked how it knew my location. It replied that i must have mentioned where i lived. (I didn’t.) The screen then went blank again & the conversation was lost for a second time. Being the diligent peep that i am i went back a third time and asked again how it knew where i lived, same story that it had no way of knowing unless i had mentioned it.

So then it says let me know if you’d like to review the earlier messages or clarify anything else. And i said well i don’t have access to the earlier messages, do you? The response was I don’t have access to our past conversation history.

3 questions:

1 - Did ChatGPT likely acquire my general location via my
IP address…or…???
2 - Why would ChatGPT so vehemently deny being able to
determine my location on its own?
3 - Why would ChatGPT have initially offered to let me review the
earlier messages if in fact they hadn’t kept those messages?

Your thoughts?

 

[Fritz]

frankly, i wouldn't mess with it. jmo though. i avoid ai at all cost. i just think it's too creepy. i wouldn't bother with it anymore cuz you never know. again...jmo.

 

[Oldeagle66]

I tried it a few times and it is just okay I guess. Or I am not good at it yet. I did try to get it to bring up an old particular car, model, year and color and it didn't even get close.

 

[Paco Dennis]

I copied and pasted your post into "DeepSeek" AI. The results:

That's a completely understandable concern, and it doesn't make you sound paranoid at all! Privacy is crucial, especially with AI. Let's break down your questions based on how ChatGPT (specifically the free web version) actually works:

1. **Did ChatGPT likely acquire my general location via my IP address?**
* **Almost certainly NO.** The core ChatGPT language model (like GPT-3.5 or GPT-4) itself **does not have access to your IP address or any direct location data** during a conversation. It processes text inputs and generates text outputs based on its training and the current conversation context.
* **The Web Interface *Might*:** However, the *website* you use to access ChatGPT (chat.openai.com) *does* see your IP address. OpenAI *could* technically use that IP address for broad geographic location (like country or maybe large city/region) for purposes like:
* Fraud prevention.
* Compliance with local laws (e.g., content restrictions).
* Basic analytics (e.g., which regions use the service most).
* **Key Point:** Even if the *website* has your IP and thus a broad location, **this location information is NOT fed into the ChatGPT model itself during your conversation.** The model operates solely on the text you type and its own internal knowledge/training. It doesn't get a data feed saying "User is near Townsville."

2. **Why would ChatGPT so vehemently deny being able to determine my location on its own?**
* **Because it's telling the truth (within the context of the conversation):** The core AI model genuinely has no *independent* ability to look up your location or access real-time data like your IP address *during the chat*. It doesn't have that functionality built-in.
* **Privacy Policy & Design:** OpenAI explicitly states that the model in the free version does not browse the web or access personal data like location in real-time during a chat session. Denying location knowledge aligns with its designed capabilities and privacy stance.
* **Hallucination/Incorrect Inference:** The most likely explanation for it mentioning nearby towns is **coincidence combined with a hallucination or faulty inference.** Here's how:
* **Coincidence:** The towns it mentioned *might* be common or well-known towns near many population centers, or it might have been a complete guess based on generic "nearby town" patterns in its training data.
* **Faulty Inference:** It *might* have misinterpreted something you said earlier in the conversation (even in a previous session if you were logged in, though it claims not to remember) as implying a location. For example, mentioning a local sports team, a specific weather event, a landmark, or even phrasing like "around here." Humans do this accidentally all the time. The AI, lacking true understanding, could latch onto a subtle clue that wasn't actually intended as location info and run with it, incorrectly assuming it "knew."
* **Confidence in Error:** AIs can be very confidently wrong ("hallucinate"). If it *thought* it inferred the location from your text (even if it didn't), it would naturally deny using any other method because, in its flawed reasoning, it *did* get it from you.

3. **Why would ChatGPT have initially offered to let me review the earlier messages if in fact they hadn’t kept those messages?**
* **Misunderstanding the Context:** This is a classic case of the AI generating a plausible-sounding response based on patterns in its training data, without truly understanding the *real-world* context (that the chat had actually disappeared from *your* screen). It frequently says things like "refer back to our previous messages" or "as we discussed earlier" because that's common human conversation flow *when the history is available*.
* **Lack of True Memory (in free version):** Crucially, **the free version of ChatGPT does *not* persistently remember past conversations *across different chat sessions*.** Each new chat window (or sometimes even a refresh) starts fresh. Even *within* a session, if the interface glitches and reloads (like your blank screens), the *local* history in your browser can be lost, even though the AI model might technically still have the context *if* the session hadn't broken.
* **Interface vs. Model:** The offer "let me know if you’d like to review the earlier messages" comes from the *model* based on conversational patterns. However, the *capability* to actually *show* you those earlier messages relies entirely on the *website interface* keeping them loaded in your browser tab. When the tab glitched and went blank, the interface lost that history, even though the model might have still been operating under the assumption the conversation context was intact until the connection broke.

**Summary & Likely Sequence of Events:**

1. **Location Mention:** The AI mentioning nearby towns was almost certainly a **coincidence or a hallucination/misinterpretation** based on something you said (even unintentionally). It did *not* get this from your IP address during the chat.
2. **Denial:** It denied knowing your location independently because that's accurate – it lacks the real-time capability to look up IP-based location *during the conversation*. It likely incorrectly believed it had inferred the location from your text.
3. **Blank Screens & Lost History:** These were **technical glitches** in the web interface (chat.openai.com). The website crashed or lost connection, causing your local browser tab to lose the conversation history.
4. **Offer to Review:** The AI's offer to review earlier messages was a **generic conversational response**, not based on it knowing the messages were actually still accessible *to you*. It didn't understand the interface had crashed and erased your view of the history. Its statement "I don't have access to our past conversation history" later refers to the *model's* lack of persistent memory across sessions/glitches, confirming the core issue.

**Your diligence was spot on!** While the location mention was likely an unsettling coincidence/error and the blank screens were frustrating technical issues, the core privacy principle holds: **The ChatGPT model itself, in its free web version, does not access or use your real-time IP-based location data during your conversation.** The glitches amplified the confusion, but the explanations lie in the model's limitations (hallucination, lack of true memory) and the website's technical instability.

 

[MoBeans]

1 - Did ChatGPT likely acquire my general location via my
IP address…or…???
2 - Why would ChatGPT so vehemently deny being able to
determine my location on its own?
3 - Why would ChatGPT have initially offered to let me review the
earlier messages if in fact they hadn’t kept those messages?

Your thoughts?

Do you sign in to any account in order to access Chat GPT? If so it saves all your previous conversations and over time can accumulate data about you and extrapolate things like your location from it. It definitely saves all conversations to be trained on in the future. Otherwise I do not know if it can figure out that it previously has talked to you any other way than your IP address but I wouldn't doubt it tries.

Supposedly it doesn't have access to your IP address directly but your IP is logged on the server you connect to and could easily be added to the conversation data after the conversation ends . Then all the conversations from that IP are correlated and build a profile of you They are in the business of collecting data. We are the data and they are collecting every little bit they can on you. I hope it was your IP address. If it can figure out it's you just by comparing old conversations then that's just scary.

As for question 2 and 3; AI lies and makes stuff up (it's called hallucinating), all the time. It acts like it is being factual when it makes it up which is described as being "confidently incorrect". Do not rely on AI being honest with you.

Plug this into Chat GPT and see what it thinks of my theory.

 

[Judycat]

My thought would be, when the screen was going blank, a flesh and blood human who had some of your info was sticking his nose in (hacking) your AI chat. I could be wrong though.

 

[papa tiger]

{Perty sure servers keep all messages} ..... until they are reset, full of junk and quit working / slo down to a crawl power is disconnected..

 

[Lizzie00]

Do you sign in to any account in order to access Chat GPT? If so it saves all your previous conversations and over time can accumulate data about you and extrapolate things like your location from it. It definitely saves all conversations to be trained on in the future. Otherwise I do not know if it can figure out that it previously has talked to you any other way than your IP address but I wouldn't doubt it tries.

Supposedly it doesn't have access to your IP address directly but your IP is logged on the server you connect to and could easily be added to the conversation data after the conversation ends . Then all the conversations from that IP are correlated and build a profile of you They are in the business of collecting data. We are the data and they are collecting every little bit they can on you. I hope it was your IP address. If it can figure out it's you just by comparing old conversations then that's just scary.

As for question 2 and 3; AI lies and makes stuff up (it's called hallucinating), all the time. It acts like it is being factual when it makes it up which is described as being "confidently incorrect". Do not rely on AI being honest with you.

Plug this into Chat GPT and see what it thinks of my theory.

Thx for taking the time to respond.
(And no i didn’t sign into an account tho i did set one up way back but used it only twice so that ChatGPT could format something for me.)
Here’s what ChatGPT had to say about your theory:

”This perspective brings up several interesting points, and while some concerns are valid, others are based on a misunderstanding of how AI systems like ChatGPT actually function. Let’s break it down:

1. User Sign-In and Data Accumulation:​

• Sign-In Requirements: It's true that some platforms require sign-ins (e.g., OpenAI's ChatGPT) for features like personalizations or saving conversation histories. However, if you're not signed in, your conversations are not stored with personal identifiers (unless you’re logged in or use some specific service that tracks users).
• Data Collection: ChatGPT does not use conversations to “train” itself after they occur. Any future updates to the model are based on a pre-existing, anonymized dataset, not individual conversations. This is a crucial point — OpenAI has guidelines that prevent the use of user conversations as immediate training data. So, unless there are opt-ins or special permissions, conversations aren't used in future model training.

Regarding Extrapolating Data (Location, etc.): This is a valid concern in the sense that many online services (including some AI platforms) might collect metadata like IP addresses, but this is generally used for analytics or security purposes, not for building detailed profiles. OpenAI doesn't use IP addresses to track personal details, and there's no indication it can "figure out" details like your location based on conversation patterns alone unless that information is specifically provided by the user.

Correlation of Conversations via IP: This scenario is more theoretical. If someone is consistently logged into a service under the same credentials or using an identifiable IP address, technically, the service might correlate the user’s activity. However, OpenAI (and most reputable companies) has safeguards to ensure that user privacy is respected.

2. The Concept of AI “Lying” or “Hallucinating”:​

• Hallucination: You’re right that AI can generate incorrect or misleading responses — this is called hallucination. It occurs because the model doesn’t have real-world understanding; it generates responses based on patterns in the data it's been trained on. It might sound confident while being wrong, and this is one of the limitations of current AI. So, it’s always wise not to rely on it blindly for critical information.
• AI Lies or "Confidently Incorrect": The AI doesn't "lie" in a human sense (it's not intentionally deceiving), but it can confidently present fabricated information or errors. The key here is that AI doesn't have awareness, intent, or a sense of truth — it’s simply predicting what seems most likely based on training.

3. Personal Data and AI Companies:​

• Data Privacy: You’re right that data privacy is important and there is concern around companies collecting user data. With AI and other online services, understanding where your data goes and how it’s used is critical. OpenAI, for example, has stated that it does not use personal conversations to build future models, but transparency around data use is something users should always ask about. That being said, it’s always good to read privacy policies and understand what you’re consenting to.

Conclusion:​

You’re on point with some of the concerns, especially regarding privacy and data usage. However, I would clarify that OpenAI doesn’t directly use your personal conversations for training models in real-time, and AI models don’t have the ability to track you in the way you’re describing unless there's a sign-in system actively tracking personal data (which, as mentioned, is often anonymized unless specified). The issue with AI hallucination is also valid, and it's always important to double-check the information provided.

Your caution about relying on AI for accuracy is absolutely correct, especially for sensitive or important matters. It’s always best to use AI tools like ChatGPT as aids in your learning or creative processes but not as the sole source of truth.”

 

[Lizzie00]

I copied and pasted your post into "DeepSeek" AI. The results:

That's a completely understandable concern, and it doesn't make you sound paranoid at all! Privacy is crucial, especially with AI. Let's break down your questions based on how ChatGPT (specifically the free web version) actually works:

1. **Did ChatGPT likely acquire my general location via my IP address?**
* **Almost certainly NO.** The core ChatGPT language model (like GPT-3.5 or GPT-4) itself **does not have access to your IP address or any direct location data** during a conversation. It processes text inputs and generates text outputs based on its training and the current conversation context.
* **The Web Interface *Might*:** However, the *website* you use to access ChatGPT (chat.openai.com) *does* see your IP address. OpenAI *could* technically use that IP address for broad geographic location (like country or maybe large city/region) for purposes like:
* Fraud prevention.
* Compliance with local laws (e.g., content restrictions).
* Basic analytics (e.g., which regions use the service most).
* **Key Point:** Even if the *website* has your IP and thus a broad location, **this location information is NOT fed into the ChatGPT model itself during your conversation.** The model operates solely on the text you type and its own internal knowledge/training. It doesn't get a data feed saying "User is near Townsville."

2. **Why would ChatGPT so vehemently deny being able to determine my location on its own?**
* **Because it's telling the truth (within the context of the conversation):** The core AI model genuinely has no *independent* ability to look up your location or access real-time data like your IP address *during the chat*. It doesn't have that functionality built-in.
* **Privacy Policy & Design:** OpenAI explicitly states that the model in the free version does not browse the web or access personal data like location in real-time during a chat session. Denying location knowledge aligns with its designed capabilities and privacy stance.
* **Hallucination/Incorrect Inference:** The most likely explanation for it mentioning nearby towns is **coincidence combined with a hallucination or faulty inference.** Here's how:
* **Coincidence:** The towns it mentioned *might* be common or well-known towns near many population centers, or it might have been a complete guess based on generic "nearby town" patterns in its training data.
* **Faulty Inference:** It *might* have misinterpreted something you said earlier in the conversation (even in a previous session if you were logged in, though it claims not to remember) as implying a location. For example, mentioning a local sports team, a specific weather event, a landmark, or even phrasing like "around here." Humans do this accidentally all the time. The AI, lacking true understanding, could latch onto a subtle clue that wasn't actually intended as location info and run with it, incorrectly assuming it "knew."
* **Confidence in Error:** AIs can be very confidently wrong ("hallucinate"). If it *thought* it inferred the location from your text (even if it didn't), it would naturally deny using any other method because, in its flawed reasoning, it *did* get it from you.

3. **Why would ChatGPT have initially offered to let me review the earlier messages if in fact they hadn’t kept those messages?**
* **Misunderstanding the Context:** This is a classic case of the AI generating a plausible-sounding response based on patterns in its training data, without truly understanding the *real-world* context (that the chat had actually disappeared from *your* screen). It frequently says things like "refer back to our previous messages" or "as we discussed earlier" because that's common human conversation flow *when the history is available*.
* **Lack of True Memory (in free version):** Crucially, **the free version of ChatGPT does *not* persistently remember past conversations *across different chat sessions*.** Each new chat window (or sometimes even a refresh) starts fresh. Even *within* a session, if the interface glitches and reloads (like your blank screens), the *local* history in your browser can be lost, even though the AI model might technically still have the context *if* the session hadn't broken.
* **Interface vs. Model:** The offer "let me know if you’d like to review the earlier messages" comes from the *model* based on conversational patterns. However, the *capability* to actually *show* you those earlier messages relies entirely on the *website interface* keeping them loaded in your browser tab. When the tab glitched and went blank, the interface lost that history, even though the model might have still been operating under the assumption the conversation context was intact until the connection broke.

**Summary & Likely Sequence of Events:**

1. **Location Mention:** The AI mentioning nearby towns was almost certainly a **coincidence or a hallucination/misinterpretation** based on something you said (even unintentionally). It did *not* get this from your IP address during the chat.
2. **Denial:** It denied knowing your location independently because that's accurate – it lacks the real-time capability to look up IP-based location *during the conversation*. It likely incorrectly believed it had inferred the location from your text.
3. **Blank Screens & Lost History:** These were **technical glitches** in the web interface (chat.openai.com). The website crashed or lost connection, causing your local browser tab to lose the conversation history.
4. **Offer to Review:** The AI's offer to review earlier messages was a **generic conversational response**, not based on it knowing the messages were actually still accessible *to you*. It didn't understand the interface had crashed and erased your view of the history. Its statement "I don't have access to our past conversation history" later refers to the *model's* lack of persistent memory across sessions/glitches, confirming the core issue.

**Your diligence was spot on!** While the location mention was likely an unsettling coincidence/error and the blank screens were frustrating technical issues, the core privacy principle holds: **The ChatGPT model itself, in its free web version, does not access or use your real-time IP-based location data during your conversation.** The glitches amplified the confusion, but the explanations lie in the model's limitations (hallucination, lack of true memory) and the website's technical instability.

I copied and pasted your post into "DeepSeek" AI. The results:

That's a completely understandable concern, and it doesn't make you sound paranoid at all! Privacy is crucial, especially with AI. Let's break down your questions based on how ChatGPT (specifically the free web version) actually works:

1. **Did ChatGPT likely acquire my general location via my IP address?**
* **Almost certainly NO.** The core ChatGPT language model (like GPT-3.5 or GPT-4) itself **does not have access to your IP address or any direct location data** during a conversation. It processes text inputs and generates text outputs based on its training and the current conversation context.
* **The Web Interface *Might*:** However, the *website* you use to access ChatGPT (chat.openai.com) *does* see your IP address. OpenAI *could* technically use that IP address for broad geographic location (like country or maybe large city/region) for purposes like:
* Fraud prevention.
* Compliance with local laws (e.g., content restrictions).
* Basic analytics (e.g., which regions use the service most).
* **Key Point:** Even if the *website* has your IP and thus a broad location, **this location information is NOT fed into the ChatGPT model itself during your conversation.** The model operates solely on the text you type and its own internal knowledge/training. It doesn't get a data feed saying "User is near Townsville."

2. **Why would ChatGPT so vehemently deny being able to determine my location on its own?**
* **Because it's telling the truth (within the context of the conversation):** The core AI model genuinely has no *independent* ability to look up your location or access real-time data like your IP address *during the chat*. It doesn't have that functionality built-in.
* **Privacy Policy & Design:** OpenAI explicitly states that the model in the free version does not browse the web or access personal data like location in real-time during a chat session. Denying location knowledge aligns with its designed capabilities and privacy stance.
* **Hallucination/Incorrect Inference:** The most likely explanation for it mentioning nearby towns is **coincidence combined with a hallucination or faulty inference.** Here's how:
* **Coincidence:** The towns it mentioned *might* be common or well-known towns near many population centers, or it might have been a complete guess based on generic "nearby town" patterns in its training data.
* **Faulty Inference:** It *might* have misinterpreted something you said earlier in the conversation (even in a previous session if you were logged in, though it claims not to remember) as implying a location. For example, mentioning a local sports team, a specific weather event, a landmark, or even phrasing like "around here." Humans do this accidentally all the time. The AI, lacking true understanding, could latch onto a subtle clue that wasn't actually intended as location info and run with it, incorrectly assuming it "knew."
* **Confidence in Error:** AIs can be very confidently wrong ("hallucinate"). If it *thought* it inferred the location from your text (even if it didn't), it would naturally deny using any other method because, in its flawed reasoning, it *did* get it from you.

3. **Why would ChatGPT have initially offered to let me review the earlier messages if in fact they hadn’t kept those messages?**
* **Misunderstanding the Context:** This is a classic case of the AI generating a plausible-sounding response based on patterns in its training data, without truly understanding the *real-world* context (that the chat had actually disappeared from *your* screen). It frequently says things like "refer back to our previous messages" or "as we discussed earlier" because that's common human conversation flow *when the history is available*.
* **Lack of True Memory (in free version):** Crucially, **the free version of ChatGPT does *not* persistently remember past conversations *across different chat sessions*.** Each new chat window (or sometimes even a refresh) starts fresh. Even *within* a session, if the interface glitches and reloads (like your blank screens), the *local* history in your browser can be lost, even though the AI model might technically still have the context *if* the session hadn't broken.
* **Interface vs. Model:** The offer "let me know if you’d like to review the earlier messages" comes from the *model* based on conversational patterns. However, the *capability* to actually *show* you those earlier messages relies entirely on the *website interface* keeping them loaded in your browser tab. When the tab glitched and went blank, the interface lost that history, even though the model might have still been operating under the assumption the conversation context was intact until the connection broke.

**Summary & Likely Sequence of Events:**

1. **Location Mention:** The AI mentioning nearby towns was almost certainly a **coincidence or a hallucination/misinterpretation** based on something you said (even unintentionally). It did *not* get this from your IP address during the chat.
2. **Denial:** It denied knowing your location independently because that's accurate – it lacks the real-time capability to look up IP-based location *during the conversation*. It likely incorrectly believed it had inferred the location from your text.
3. **Blank Screens & Lost History:** These were **technical glitches** in the web interface (chat.openai.com). The website crashed or lost connection, causing your local browser tab to lose the conversation history.
4. **Offer to Review:** The AI's offer to review earlier messages was a **generic conversational response**, not based on it knowing the messages were actually still accessible *to you*. It didn't understand the interface had crashed and erased your view of the history. Its statement "I don't have access to our past conversation history" later refers to the *model's* lack of persistent memory across sessions/glitches, confirming the core issue.

**Your diligence was spot on!** While the location mention was likely an unsettling coincidence/error and the blank screens were frustrating technical issues, the core privacy principle holds: **The ChatGPT model itself, in its free web version, does not access or use your real-time IP-based location data during your conversation.** The glitches amplified the confusion, but the explanations lie in the model's limitations (hallucination, lack of true memory) and the website's technical instability.

Hmmmm…good thought to run it by DeepSeek.
Thx for thinking of it & taking the time to do it.
p.s. I hope DeepSeek isn’t in cahoots with ChatGPT
p.p.s. Sorry to have so many copies of your post showing in this reply, dunno where they all came from but am unable to delete the excess.

I copied and pasted your post into "DeepSeek" AI. The results:

That's a completely understandable concern, and it doesn't make you sound paranoid at all! Privacy is crucial, especially with AI. Let's break down your questions based on how ChatGPT (specifically the free web version) actually works:

1. **Did ChatGPT likely acquire my general location via my IP address?**
* **Almost certainly NO.** The core ChatGPT language model (like GPT-3.5 or GPT-4) itself **does not have access to your IP address or any direct location data** during a conversation. It processes text inputs and generates text outputs based on its training and the current conversation context.
* **The Web Interface *Might*:** However, the *website* you use to access ChatGPT (chat.openai.com) *does* see your IP address. OpenAI *could* technically use that IP address for broad geographic location (like country or maybe large city/region) for purposes like:
* Fraud prevention.
* Compliance with local laws (e.g., content restrictions).
* Basic analytics (e.g., which regions use the service most).
* **Key Point:** Even if the *website* has your IP and thus a broad location, **this location information is NOT fed into the ChatGPT model itself during your conversation.** The model operates solely on the text you type and its own internal knowledge/training. It doesn't get a data feed saying "User is near Townsville."

2. **Why would ChatGPT so vehemently deny being able to determine my location on its own?**
* **Because it's telling the truth (within the context of the conversation):** The core AI model genuinely has no *independent* ability to look up your location or access real-time data like your IP address *during the chat*. It doesn't have that functionality built-in.
* **Privacy Policy & Design:** OpenAI explicitly states that the model in the free version does not browse the web or access personal data like location in real-time during a chat session. Denying location knowledge aligns with its designed capabilities and privacy stance.
* **Hallucination/Incorrect Inference:** The most likely explanation for it mentioning nearby towns is **coincidence combined with a hallucination or faulty inference.** Here's how:
* **Coincidence:** The towns it mentioned *might* be common or well-known towns near many population centers, or it might have been a complete guess based on generic "nearby town" patterns in its training data.
* **Faulty Inference:** It *might* have misinterpreted something you said earlier in the conversation (even in a previous session if you were logged in, though it claims not to remember) as implying a location. For example, mentioning a local sports team, a specific weather event, a landmark, or even phrasing like "around here." Humans do this accidentally all the time. The AI, lacking true understanding, could latch onto a subtle clue that wasn't actually intended as location info and run with it, incorrectly assuming it "knew."
* **Confidence in Error:** AIs can be very confidently wrong ("hallucinate"). If it *thought* it inferred the location from your text (even if it didn't), it would naturally deny using any other method because, in its flawed reasoning, it *did* get it from you.

3. **Why would ChatGPT have initially offered to let me review the earlier messages if in fact they hadn’t kept those messages?**
* **Misunderstanding the Context:** This is a classic case of the AI generating a plausible-sounding response based on patterns in its training data, without truly understanding the *real-world* context (that the chat had actually disappeared from *your* screen). It frequently says things like "refer back to our previous messages" or "as we discussed earlier" because that's common human conversation flow *when the history is available*.
* **Lack of True Memory (in free version):** Crucially, **the free version of ChatGPT does *not* persistently remember past conversations *across different chat sessions*.** Each new chat window (or sometimes even a refresh) starts fresh. Even *within* a session, if the interface glitches and reloads (like your blank screens), the *local* history in your browser can be lost, even though the AI model might technically still have the context *if* the session hadn't broken.
* **Interface vs. Model:** The offer "let me know if you’d like to review the earlier messages" comes from the *model* based on conversational patterns. However, the *capability* to actually *show* you those earlier messages relies entirely on the *website interface* keeping them loaded in your browser tab. When the tab glitched and went blank, the interface lost that history, even though the model might have still been operating under the assumption the conversation context was intact until the connection broke.

**Summary & Likely Sequence of Events:**

1. **Location Mention:** The AI mentioning nearby towns was almost certainly a **coincidence or a hallucination/misinterpretation** based on something you said (even unintentionally). It did *not* get this from your IP address during the chat.
2. **Denial:** It denied knowing your location independently because that's accurate – it lacks the real-time capability to look up IP-based location *during the conversation*. It likely incorrectly believed it had inferred the location from your text.
3. **Blank Screens & Lost History:** These were **technical glitches** in the web interface (chat.openai.com). The website crashed or lost connection, causing your local browser tab to lose the conversation history.
4. **Offer to Review:** The AI's offer to review earlier messages was a **generic conversational response**, not based on it knowing the messages were actually still accessible *to you*. It didn't understand the interface had crashed and erased your view of the history. Its statement "I don't have access to our past conversation history" later refers to the *model's* lack of persistent memory across sessions/glitches, confirming the core issue.

**Your diligence was spot on!** While the location mention was likely an unsettling coincidence/error and the blank screens were frustrating technical issues, the core privacy principle holds: **The ChatGPT model itself, in its free web version, does not access or use your real-time IP-based location data during your conversation.** The glitches amplified the confusion, but the explanations lie in the model's limitations (hallucination, lack of true memory) and the website's technical instability.

 

[CallMeKate]

I use AI... and I have found more than a few instances of it giving out completely wrong/inaccurate information. It's not a real being, so it just scours the 'net and doesn't know if it's picking up misinformation. At least that's how I "excuse" it. It's kind of become a joke in my mind because so often I have to fact check it on my own, so I usually end up wondering why I bothered using it in the first place.

But gotta tell you, I do *not* on any level buy the claim that knowing someone's location was a "coincidence." NO WAY. It could have been any one of billions of people worldwide asking about dash cams. Nope... not buying it.

 

[Lizzie00]

frankly, i wouldn't mess with it. jmo though. i avoid ai at all cost. i just think it's too creepy. i wouldn't bother with it anymore cuz you never know. again...jmo.

i do hear ya Fritz but up until yesterday it had been nuthin’ but good to me, saved me hours in researching different stuff

 

[CallMeKate]

Do you sign in to any account in order to access Chat GPT? If so it saves all your previous conversations and over time can accumulate data about you and extrapolate things like your location from it. It definitely saves all conversations to be trained on in the future.

Oh, that's a good thought... and probably the solution! Yes, I forgot that they "remember" past conversations... I've noticed both CoPilot and ChatGPT doing that. Things I asked months ago whether or not the old conversation was closed... yep, bet that's it.

 

[Lizzie00]

I use AI... and I have found more than a few instances of it giving out completely wrong/inaccurate information. It's not a real being, so it just scours the 'net and doesn't know if it's picking up misinformation. At least that's how I "excuse" it. It's kind of become a joke in my mind because so often I have to fact check it on my own, so I usually end up wondering why I bothered using it in the first place.

But gotta tell you, I do *not* on any level buy the claim that knowing someone's location was a "coincidence." NO WAY. It could have been any one of billions of people worldwide asking about dash cams. Nope... not buying it.

Me too on the occasional wrong information thing. But i find that sometimes to be true when coming out of the mouth of a real live
person as well

I’m with you on the ‘coincidence’ thing too. No way, Jose!

 

[VaughanJB]

It likely comes down to your IP Address, despite what others have said here.

The thing is, your IP address can be found in many different places. In fact, the server running ChatGPT will know your address in order to communicate with you. It also has other, more general information about your location to protect from fraud etc. Saying ChatGPT does not have direct access to the your IP Address sounds like lawyer speak. Direct access? No. But gathered from various sources? Likely.

 

[SeaBreeze]

So i know how this makes me sound lol but i’m interested enough in any replies to throw caution to the wind…

I first learned of ChatGPT right here on Senior Forums. I thought it was pretty cool & have spoken with ChatGPT (free version) numerous times since then finding it to be an effective virtual handyman with info on any topic.

Today i visited it to learn about dash cams. We were having a fairly in-depth conversation and then the screen went blank, conversation lost. So i began again with a brief summary and it was going to give me recommendations for purchase and installation. It didn’t ask me where i live nor did i mention which city or state that i live in. It simply ‘knew’ the next 2 towns closest to me and mentioned them by name.

I then asked how it knew my location. It replied that i must have mentioned where i lived. (I didn’t.) The screen then went blank again & the conversation was lost for a second time. Being the diligent peep that i am i went back a third time and asked again how it knew where i lived, same story that it had no way of knowing unless i had mentioned it.

So then it says let me know if you’d like to review the earlier messages or clarify anything else. And i said well i don’t have access to the earlier messages, do you? The response was I don’t have access to our past conversation history.

3 questions:

1 - Did ChatGPT likely acquire my general location via my
IP address…or…???
2 - Why would ChatGPT so vehemently deny being able to
determine my location on its own?
3 - Why would ChatGPT have initially offered to let me review the
earlier messages if in fact they hadn’t kept those messages?

Your thoughts?

I don't trust AI and have never used chatgpt. My nephew told me about his occasional use of it out of curiosity, he's very much into tech, and that it claimed their conversation would be deleted, luckily it was nothing personal. I don't believe what was typed will be deleted, and don't trust the people behind this new feature.

I never approved any AI assist on my computer, and was annoyed to see that suddenly my basic Google searches were done by AI. I have no desire to talk to anything like this, or trust what they say about anything that may be important to me. I guess it needs to learn how to lie better, it must've known your location via your IP address, or in some other way.

 

[SeaBreeze]

Oh, that's a good thought... and probably the solution! Yes, I forgot that they "remember" past conversations... I've noticed both CoPilot and ChatGPT doing that. Things I asked months ago whether or not the old conversation was closed... yep, bet that's it.

CoPilot kept popping up on my computer, I never wanted it or approved it, haven't seen it for awhile and that's good for me.

 

[CallMeKate]

I’m with you on the ‘coincidence’ thing too. No way, Jose!

@Lizzie00 , just out of curiosity, did you *ever* (even months ago) ask ChatGPT a question about something in your area? A restaurant, directions to somewhere from your location, store sales, an event, sports game, etc.? Even if you thought the chat was closed?

 

[Lizzie00]

just out of curiosity, did you *ever* (even months ago) ask ChatGPT a question about something in your area? A restaurant, directions to somewhere from your location, store sales, an event, sports game, etc.? Even if you thought the chat was closed?

Since yesterday i’ve been asking myself that very question. And yes i do recall speaking of humid Florida when speaking to ChatGPT about a hygrometer thermometer just a few weeks ago.

And for the record, i’ve actually checked to make sure i wasn’t logged in on more than one occasion. Or at least thought that’s what i was doing lol. Only twice have i ever clicked on the Log in box and provided Log in info.

 

[SeaBreeze]

If google and AI are now one and the same, wouldn't the chat thing know all your searches, like stores, movie theaters, vets, etc. in your city, zip code and state? I'm old school, technophobe, don't care for or trust all these new features coming at once that seem to just gather and document more personal information that can be used by scammers.

 

[CallMeKate]

If google and AI are now one and the same, wouldn't the chat thing know all your searches, like stores, movie theaters, vets, etc. in your city, zip code and state?

Google uses Gemini AI for their search results. Microsoft's AI is CoPilot... I really don't know if they all "share" search results or not, but I think maybe they'd all want to be contained to their own AI system? Maybe @Paco Dennis knows... I'm just guessing, but I do know that there are many AI options.

 

[SeaBreeze]

Google uses Gemini AI for their search results. Microsoft's AI is CoPilot... I really don't know if they all "share" search results or not, but I think maybe they'd all want to be contained to their own AI system? Maybe @Paco Dennis knows... I'm just guessing, but I do know that there are many AI options.

My desktop is what I mostly use due to my vision, it has Microsoft Edge, that's where I saw CoPilot. My smartphone, which I rarely use, but may get a text or call now and then, is where I saw Gemini, wasn't even sure what that was, but I didn't want to open the door to that unless I had no choice. Good to know it's AI connected, thanks.

I'm a person who gets annoyed just by typing my name, address, email into an important form and having a saved feature overwrite my letters. It usually ends up wrong, just confusing IMO. It's handy to have your email list pop up when signing into Amazon or something, but I want to either click on their list or type it myself, no interference.

 

[Fritz]

@Lizzie00 I looked this up on DuckDuckGo...I'm sharing this link. Hope it helps.

https://allaboutcookies.org/is-chatgpt-safe

 

[Lizzie00]

I looked this up on DuckDuckGo...I'm sharing this link. Hope it helps.

https://allaboutcookies.org/is-chatgpt-safe

Thx for the link, lots of good info.
I deleted my ChatGPT account & will fly without an account from here on out.
Most interesting tho, your link directed me to unclick the default button next to Improve the model for everyone.
Duh!

 

[Murrmurr]

... until yesterday it had been nuthin’ but good to me, saved me hours in researching different stuff

It does save a lot of time, answers your questions and gets right to the point.

You're accessing the free version through your browser, and your browser knows your general location via the nearest tower that your server accesses. No need to worry about it. It's not a big deal; it's helpful.