Thread

1. pbasista · 1790682806 · focus · HN ↗

   Tangential:

   I have recently noticed that e.g. ChatGPT, when used from a web browser, periodically sends unfinished prompts to their servers, namely to the `conversation/prepare` endpoint, without waiting for the user to actually send it.

   This partial prompt data might potentially be used to "pre-warm" some kind of cache.

   But it may also be used to track the user's writing cadence, error correction style and evolution of their stub ideas as they are being formulated into a prompt. I would assume that such data could also be sold to the advertisers.

   1. sroussey · 1790724083 · focus · HN ↗

      You open the same convo on another device and the partially written text is there to continue. Does it not do that for you?

      1. port11 · 1790764615 · focus · HN ↗

         “Oh, we’ll store your unfinished thoughts, privately typed into a text box, on the off-chance that you want to continue writing it on another device. And no, we won’t ask you nor give you any semblance of true privacy.”

         Sounds good.

         1. broken-kebab · 1790772166 · focus · HN ↗

            "Privately typed" is a bit of a stretch, frankly speaking. That text box literally exists to send your texts to a remote entity.

            1. sroussey · 1790815062 · focus · HN ↗

               It is also super common on e-commerce websites that will then send you an email about a cart you started to the point of adding an email but then abandoned.

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