Observed Signal · Sep 15, 2026 · Policy Update · Source: t3n · Impact: 4/5 · Sentiment: Negative
Privacy Market: OpenAI Employees Read ChatGPT Conversations Under 'Project Lilly'
Internal documents obtained by 404 Media reveal that OpenAI employs hundreds of freelancers to manually review real ChatGPT user conversations as part of 'Project Lilly', a quality assurance initiative. The reviewers evaluate user inputs, summarize the presumed intent, and rate the AI-generated responses, aiming to make the chatbot less sycophantic and more 'smart but humble'. While the program is intended to improve safety, experts raise privacy concerns, noting that users are not adequately informed that human reviewers may read their intimate conversations. OpenAI says it filters personal information and hides usernames, but admits errors can occur. Similar manual review practices are also used by Google and Anthropic.
Reveals privacy and data handling practices at a major AI platform, impacting trust and regulatory scrutiny in the AdTech/AI industry.
Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- OpenAI's 'Project Lilly' deploys hundreds of freelancers to review real ChatGPT conversations.
- The review process involves three steps: reading the input, summarizing intent, and evaluating the AI answer.
- Reviewers are instructed to flag excessive emoji use and sycophancy.
- The program aims to make ChatGPT responses 'smart, but humble' and safer.
- OpenAI states that reviewers cannot see usernames and personal information is filtered, but errors are possible.
Connected Companies & Entities
4 Entities mapped404 Media
Independent technology publisher with subscriptions, newsletters, podcasts and direct advertising.
“Laut internen Dokumenten, die 404 Media einsehen konnte, sehen viele dieser persönlichen Informationen auch menschliche Mitarbeiter:innen ei...”
Anthropic
Foundation model company selling AI assistants and model APIs.
“Auch Google und Anthropic setzen eigenen Angaben zufolge menschliche Prüfer:innen ein, um ihre KI-Modelle zu verbessern....”
OpenAI
Foundation model company selling AI software, APIs and subscriptions.
“OpenAI soll Hunderte Freelancer:innen beschäftigen, die die Eingaben der Nutzer:innen lesen und die Antworten des Chatbots qualitativ überpr...”
Search, video, adtech and cloud giant within Alphabet.
“Auch Google und Anthropic setzen eigenen Angaben zufolge menschliche Prüfer:innen ein, um ihre KI-Modelle zu verbessern....”
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