OpenAI Contractors Read Live ChatGPT Conversations

Hundreds of contractors are reading real ChatGPT conversations and scoring the replies. The program is called Project Lily, and it is how OpenAI is paying people to grade the chatbot on a scale of 1 to 7.

The Next Web and The Decoder both carried the 404 Media investigation in mid-September. Tom's Hardware ran the same story. OpenAI has not put out a press release confirming every claim.

Reviewers do not see usernames. They do see a user memories summary sitting above the prompt, which can include prior use and location cues.

OpenAI says a Privacy Filter model strips personal information first. The company's own page for that filter admits it can make mistakes, miss uncommon identifiers, and under-redact when context is thin.

The Decoder, citing 404 Media, says the contractors are recruited through Crossing Hurdles and paid through Mercor. Their job is not just scoring answers. They are also told to cut excessive flattery and human-like behavior.

"Improve the model for everyone" is on by default for free, Plus, and Pro. It is off for Enterprise, Business, and Edu. Turning it off only covers new conversations. Old threads stay in the pile.

OpenAI did not answer where users are told that humans may read chats. After the story landed it pointed to a help page. Whether a buried FAQ counts as notice is still being fought over, and so is the GDPR reading.

The Court of Justice, in EDPS v SRB last September, said a controller's duty to inform applies at collection from the controller's point of view. Italy's regulator previously fined OpenAI EUR 15 million, nine million of that for processing without an adequate legal basis, and ordered six months of public information advertising.

Anthropic has confirmed human review for users who switch on its improve-model setting, after account IDs are stripped. Google Gemini already tells people that humans may review some saved chats.

The same consumer ChatGPT that just paused new Pro sign-ups is the product these contractors are reading.

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