Chief Executive Officer of OpenAI, Sam Altman, has said that conversations held with its popular AI tool, ChatGPT, are not currently protected by any legal privilege and could be used as evidence in court.

Altman disclosed this while speaking on the This Past Weekend podcast hosted by comedian Theo Von.

He expressed concern over the level of personal and sensitive information users share with the chatbot, particularly young people who often treat it as a form of emotional support.

“People talk about the most personal shit in their lives to ChatGPT.

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“People use it, young people especially, use it as a therapist, a life coach; having these relationship problems and [asking] ‘what should I do?’” he said.

He noted that, unlike conversations with medical or legal professionals, ChatGPT interactions are not protected under existing confidentiality laws.

“And right now, if you talk to a therapist or a lawyer or a doctor about those problems, there’s legal privilege for it.

“There’s doctor-patient confidentiality, there’s legal confidentiality, whatever.

“And we haven’t figured that out yet for when you talk to ChatGPT,” he added.

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Altman warned that this legal grey area could have serious implications. “If you go talk to ChatGPT about the most sensitive stuff and then there’s a lawsuit or whatever, we could be required to produce that.

“If someone confides their most personal issues to ChatGPT, and that ends up in legal proceedings, we could be compelled to hand that over. And that’s a real problem,” he said.

The tech boss called for urgent action to address the privacy gap in AI conversations.

“I think that’s very screwed up. I think we should have the same concept of privacy for your conversations with AI that we do with a therapist or whatever, and no one had to think about that even a year ago,” Altman concluded.

Two Israeli soldiers were killed in combat in southern Gaza on Sunday, the military said, a day after confirming another soldier had died of wounds sustained last week.

“We have lost three young heroes, some of our finest, who gave their lives for the security of our state and the return of all our hostages,” Defence Minister Israel Katz said on X.

The two soldiers, aged 20 and 22, served in the Golani Infantry Brigade’s 51st Battalion.

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Israeli military sources said they were killed when their armoured vehicle exploded in the city of Khan Yunis.

Military correspondents from several Israeli media outlets said the blast was caused by an improvised explosive device detonated by a militant who emerged from a tunnel.An investigation was underway.

The Israeli military says 462 soldiers have been killed since the start of its ground offensive in Gaza on October 27, 2023.

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Israel launched its Gaza military campaign after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

The Israeli campaign has killed 59,733 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Bafta-winning British actor, Micheal Ward, has been formally charged with multiple sexual offences, including rape and assault.

The charges were confirmed by the Metropolitan Police on Thursday.

Ward, 27, who rose to fame for his role in the critically acclaimed drama Blue Story and later starred in Top Boy and Small Axe, is facing two counts of rape and three counts of sexual assault.

The alleged offences are said to have occurred in January 2023.

He said: “I deny the charges against me entirely,” and added that he had co-operated with police fully throughout their investigation and had full faith it would lead to his name being cleared.

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Ward’s alleged offences relate to one woman and are reported to have taken place in January 2023, according to the police force.

The actor made his name as one of the stars of cult hit Blue Story in 2019, and won the Rising Star prize at the Bafta Film Awards the following year.

He played Jamie in Netflix hit Top Boy from 2019 to 22, and was nominated for best supporting actor at the Bafta TV Awards for Small Axe in 2021.

The Jamaican-born actor also starred in the acclaimed 2022 drama Empire of Light, and will be seen in the forthcoming US pandemic-era Western movie Eddington, which is due to be released in the UK on 22 August.

Ward is due to appear at Thames Magistrates’ Court in London on 28 August.

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Metropolitan Police Det Supt Scott Ware said: “Our specialist officers continue to support the woman who has come forward, we know investigations of this nature can have a significant impact on those who make reports.”

Catherine Baccas, deputy chief crown prosecutor for CPS London South, said: “Having carefully reviewed a file of evidence, the Crown Prosecution Service has authorised the Metropolitan Police to charge Micheal Ward, 27, with two counts of rape, two counts of assault by penetration, and one count of sexual assault against a woman in January 2023.”

She added: “We remind all concerned that proceedings against the suspect are active and he has a right to a fair trial.

“It is vital that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in anyway prejudice these proceedings.”