ChatGPT now knows what you do on other websites via ad collector
Points and comments are a snapshot, not live.
OpenAI uses a cross-site cookie to link users' ChatGPT accounts with their browsing activity on advertiser websites.
The `__obi` cookie, set by OpenAI's ad collector at bzr.openai.com, is transmitted to OpenAI when users visit sites with its measurement pixel. This allows OpenAI to connect browsing data-including products searched, articles read, and purchase behaviors-to a user's ChatGPT account, even when logged out. The cookie is the only OpenAI identifier configured with SameSite=None, enabling cross-site tracking. Of 881 pixels observed, 638 had automatic matching enabled, including all credit and lending advertisers. OpenAI classifies the cookie under analytics consent, not marketing.
The mechanism is standard adtech, but what has no precedent is running it on an AI chat product where people share sensitive information.
What commenters are saying
The dominant sentiment is that this is the same tracking Facebook and Google have done for decades, but commenters express heightened concern because it involves an AI chat product where users share sensitive information. Some dismiss the surprise, noting OpenAI hired ex-Meta and Google employees. One commenter argues the practice is akin to malware that most people cannot defend against. Others split on who is to blame: users who "free ride" on free tiers, the corporations building the surveillance, or the workforce that enables it. A few resist fatalism, with one quoting that those who say "the cat is out of the bag" are often the ones shaking the bag.