Reviewing OpenAI's 31st Jan 2024 Privacy and Business Terms Updates

Jan 12, 2024
Share this post
Sharing to FacebookSharing to LinkedInSharing to XSharing to Email

Recent updates to OpenAI's privacy policies, terms of use applicable to individuals, and business terms have sparked the interest of the privacy and business community. The former two are coming into effect on Jan 31, 2024, except insofar as the Europe privacy policy is concerned, and the business terms are already in force as of Nov 14, 2023. As we delve into these changes to inform these discussions, it's crucial to understand their implications, particularly for individual users in Europe and businesses operating under HIPAA regulations, i.e., so-called covered entities which include Health Plans, including health insurance companies, HMOs, company health plans, and certain government programs that pay for health care, such as Medicare and Medicaid. Here's an exploration of what these updates entail and how they impact the use of AI-driven solutions in different contexts.

Unpacking the Europe-Specific Privacy Policy

One of the most significant changes is the introduction of a Europe-specific privacy policy, which comes into force on Feb 15, 2024 . This move aligns with the stringent data protection standards set by the GDPR. The novelties include the ability of individual users to exercise their privacy-related rights through their OpenAI account, a crucial step towards enhancing user control over personal data. The European privacy policy now also sets out detailed legal bases for processing personal data, explicitly stated for the first time. This includes processing for contract performance, legitimate interests, and user consent, aligning with GDPR’s requirements.Data transfer mechanisms receive particular attention, acknowledging the complexities of transferring personal data outside the EEA, Switzerland, and the UK. The policy adheres to GDPR standards, utilizing European Commission’s adequacy decisions and Standard Contractual Clauses as safeguards.This development, however, is specifically tailored for individual users and does not extend to business offerings. For businesses operating in Europe, understanding the nuances of the business terms will be key to ensuring compliance and maintaining user trust.

Business Terms

In the realm of business terms, not much has changed. It's noteworthy that the HIPAA restriction remains largely unchanged, i.e., the prohibition to include personal health information (PHI) in user input without a business associate agreement (BAA) in place, a requirement under HIPAA.However, a subtle shift is observed in the privacy language applicable to businesses. Formerly, reference was made to "API data usage policies," which changed to "Enterprise Privacy Commitments."Unfortunately, in contrast to the business terms, OpenAI did not make the previous version (i.e., the API data usage policies) available for comparison. Hence, we are left to assume that this shift is intended to signal an enhanced focus on comprehensive privacy practices that go beyond just API interactions, without being able to confirm what that means in substance.

The Challenges of Securing a Business Associate Agreement (BAA)

A critical aspect for businesses dealing with health information is securing a BAA with OpenAI or, if the OpenAI services are accessed via Microsoft Azure, with Microsoft directly. The demand for such agreements is high, leading to a bottleneck in customer support. This situation presents a challenge for companies looking to leverage AI solutions while complying with HIPAA.Navigating the BAA process is more than a compliance hurdle; it's a reflection of the growing need for robust data protection measures in the AI space. The struggle to secure a BAA underscores the importance of proactive engagement with privacy and security requirements in the evolving landscape of AI technology.

How Private AI Can Help

Where businesses are not able to obtain a BAA in due time, and also because it is good practice, a solution would be to approach HIPAA compliance via the Safe Harbour rule, always assuming of course that the use case is to disclose PHI. Removing the listed 18 identifiers from your data set permits the disclosure without anything further. This de-identified information is no longer considered PHI to which HIPAA applies. Alternatively, if you instead remove any information regarding a health condition, provision of health care to an individual, and the past, present, or future payment for the provision of health care to an individual, then the information would also no longer constitute PHI, but may still be personal information, the disclosure of which can be restricted under other applicable laws.Private AI’s technology can detect, redact, and remove all 18 of the listed entities of the Safe Harbor rule (and more), greatly facilitating HIPAA compliance and enabling businesses to leverage LLMs safely. Beyond that, Private AI can also remove direct and indirect personal identifiers including health conditions as well as name, address, and numerical identifiers. You can test the technology on your own data, using our web demo, or sign up for an API key here.

Data Left Behind: AI Scribes’ Promises in Healthcare

Data Left Behind: Healthcare’s Untapped Goldmine

The Future of Health Data: How New Tech is Changing the Game

Why is linguistics essential when dealing with healthcare data?

Why Health Data Strategies Fail Before They Start

Private AI to Redefine Enterprise Data Privacy and Compliance with NVIDIA

EDPB’s Pseudonymization Guideline and the Challenge of Unstructured Data

HHS’ proposed HIPAA Amendment to Strengthen Cybersecurity in Healthcare and how Private AI can Support Compliance

Japan's Health Data Anonymization Act: Enabling Large-Scale Health Research

What the International AI Safety Report 2025 has to say about Privacy Risks from General Purpose AI

Private AI 4.0: Your Data’s Potential, Protected and Unlocked

How Private AI Facilitates GDPR Compliance for AI Models: Insights from the EDPB's Latest Opinion

Navigating the New Frontier of Data Privacy: Protecting Confidential Company Information in the Age of AI

Belgium’s Data Protection Authority on the Interplay of the EU AI Act and the GDPR

Enhancing Compliance with US Privacy Regulations for the Insurance Industry Using Private AI

Navigating Compliance with Quebec’s Act Respecting Health and Social Services Information Through Private AI’s De-identification Technology

Unlocking New Levels of Accuracy in Privacy-Preserving AI with Co-Reference Resolution

Strengthened Data Protection Enforcement on the Horizon in Japan

How Private AI Can Help to Comply with Thailand's PDPA

How Private AI Can Help Financial Institutions Comply with OSFI Guidelines

The American Privacy Rights Act – The Next Generation of Privacy Laws

How Private AI Can Help with Compliance under China’s Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL)

PII Redaction for Reviews Data: Ensuring Privacy Compliance when Using Review APIs

Independent Review Certifies Private AI’s PII Identification Model as Secure and Reliable

To Use or Not to Use AI: A Delicate Balance Between Productivity and Privacy

To Use or Not to Use AI: A Delicate Balance Between Productivity and Privacy

News from NIST: Dioptra, AI Risk Management Framework (AI RMF) Generative AI Profile, and How PII Identification and Redaction can Support Suggested Best Practices

Handling Personal Information by Financial Institutions in Japan – The Strict Requirements of the FSA Guidelines

日本における金融機関の個人情報の取り扱い - 金融庁ガイドラインの要件

Leveraging Private AI to Meet the EDPB’s AI Audit Checklist for GDPR-Compliant AI Systems

Who is Responsible for Protecting PII?

How Private AI can help the Public Sector to Comply with the Strengthening Cyber Security and Building Trust in the Public Sector Act, 2024

A Comparison of the Approaches to Generative AI in Japan and China

Updated OECD AI Principles to keep up with novel and increased risks from general purpose and generative AI

Is Consent Required for Processing Personal Data via LLMs?

The evolving landscape of data privacy legislation in healthcare in Germany

The CIO’s and CISO’s Guide for Proactive Reporting and DLP with Private AI and Elastic

The Evolving Landscape of Health Data Protection Laws in the United States

Comparing Privacy and Safety Concerns Around Llama 2, GPT4, and Gemini

How to Safely Redact PII from Segment Events using Destination Insert Functions and Private AI API

WHO’s AI Ethics and Governance Guidance for Large Multi-Modal Models operating in the Health Sector – Data Protection Considerations

How to Protect Confidential Corporate Information in the ChatGPT Era

Unlocking the Power of Retrieval Augmented Generation with Added Privacy: A Comprehensive Guide

Leveraging ChatGPT and other AI Tools for Legal Services

Leveraging ChatGPT and other AI tools for HR

Leveraging ChatGPT in the Banking Industry

Law 25 and Data Transfers Outside of Quebec

The Colorado and Connecticut Data Privacy Acts

Unlocking Compliance with the Japanese Data Privacy Act (APPI) using Private AI

Tokenization and Its Benefits for Data Protection

Private AI Launches Cloud API to Streamline Data Privacy

Processing of Special Categories of Data in Germany

End-to-end Privacy Management

Privacy Breach Reporting Requirements under Law25

Migrating Your Privacy Workflows from Amazon Comprehend to Private AI

A Comparison of the Approaches to Generative AI in the US and EU

Benefits of AI in Healthcare and Data Sources (Part 1)

Privacy Attacks against Data and AI Models (Part 3)

Risks of Noncompliance and Challenges around Privacy-Preserving Techniques (Part 2)

Enhancing Data Lake Security: A Guide to PII Scanning in S3 buckets

The Costs of a Data Breach in the Healthcare Sector and its Privacy Compliance Implications

Navigating GDPR Compliance in the Life Cycle of LLM-Based Solutions

What’s New in Version 3.8

How to Protect Your Business from Data Leaks: Lessons from Toyota and the Department of Home Affairs

New York's Acceptable Use of AI Policy: A Focus on Privacy Obligations

Safeguarding Personal Data in Sentiment Analysis: A Guide to PII Anonymization

Changes to South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Act to Take Effect on March 15, 2024

Australia’s Plan to Regulate High-Risk AI

How Private AI can help comply with the EU AI Act

Comment la Loi 25 Impacte l'Utilisation de ChatGPT et de l'IA en Général

Endgültiger Entwurf des Gesetzes über Künstliche Intelligenz – Datenschutzpflichten der KI-Modelle mit Allgemeinem Verwendungszweck

How Law25 Impacts the Use of ChatGPT and AI in General

Is Salesforce Law25 Compliant?

Creating De-Identified Embeddings

Exciting Updates in 3.7

EU AI Act Final Draft – Obligations of General-Purpose AI Systems relating to Data Privacy

FTC Privacy Enforcement Actions Against AI Companies

The CCPA, CPRA, and California's Evolving Data Protection Landscape

HIPAA Compliance – Expert Determination Aided by Private AI

Private AI Software As a Service Agreement

EU's Review of Canada's Data Protection Adequacy: Implications for Ongoing Privacy Reform

Acceptable Use Policy

ISO/IEC 42001: A New Standard for Ethical and Responsible AI Management

Reviewing OpenAI's 31st Jan 2024 Privacy and Business Terms Updates

Comparing OpenAI vs. Azure OpenAI Services

Quebec’s Draft Regulation Respecting the Anonymization of Personal Information

Version 3.6 Release: Enhanced Streaming, Auto Model Selection, and More in Our Data Privacy Platform

Brazil's LGPD: Anonymization, Pseudonymization, and Access Requests

LGPD do Brasil: Anonimização, Pseudonimização e Solicitações de Acesso à Informação

Canada’s Principles for Responsible, Trustworthy and Privacy-Protective Generative AI Technologies and How to Comply Using Private AI

Private AI Named One of The Most Innovative RegTech Companies by RegTech100

Data Integrity, Data Security, and the New NIST Cybersecurity Framework

Safeguarding Privacy with Commercial LLMs

Cybersecurity in the Public Sector: Protecting Vital Services

Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) Requirements under Law25

Elevate Your Experience with Version 3.5

Fine-Tuning LLMs with a Focus on Privacy

GDPR in Germany: Challenges of German Data Privacy (Part 2)

Comply with US Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence using Private AI

How to Comply with EU AI Act using PrivateGPT