"DHS Ordered OpenAI To Share User Data In First Known Warrant For ChatGPT Prompts" 20 October 2025

Over the last year, federal agents were struggling to uncover the identity of a darkweb child exploitation site, with little success. Then a possible avenue opened up, thanks to the suspect’s use of ChatGPT.

In the first known federal search warrant asking OpenAI for user data, reviewed by Forbes after it was unsealed in Maine last week, Homeland Security Investigations revealed it had been chatting with the administrator in an undercover capacity on the child exploitation site when the suspect noted they’d been using ChatGPT...

...The case shows how American law enforcement can use ChatGPT prompts to gather data on users suspected of criminal activity. In the past, search engines like Google have been asked to hand over personal information on users who entered certain searches, but no generative AI platform was known to have been asked the same for those entering prompts. That makes this the first public example of this kind of reverse AI prompt request...

...Jennifer Lynch, counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said that the warrant appeared limited in terms of focusing on two prompts from one user, it showed that law enforcement are increasingly turning to ChatGPT for evidence in criminal investigations.

“That means it’s more important than ever for OpenAI and other AI companies to think about how to limit the amount of data they collect on their users,” she added...

...OpenAI hadn’t responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.