Private Safety Processing

Private Safety Processing is a safety-check method that lets OpenAI automatically flag dangerous use of API conversations without any human reading the content.

Think of it like scanning a sealed package with an X-ray instead of opening it. The scanning machine doesn't need to see exactly what's inside the package to sound an alarm if it detects something dangerous. OpenAI employees have no access to this scanning layer, and request data stays encrypted, kept only in storage the customer controls.

When an alarm goes off, notifications split into two tracks. The customer gets an alert detailed enough to investigate what actually happened, while OpenAI only gets an alert with the type and severity level of the risk. The final decision on whether to actually disclose the content rests with the customer who created the data, not with OpenAI.

News coverage describes OpenAI as having "previewed a new safety system called Private Safety Processing that detects misuse risks without humans directly viewing the content." It's easy to confuse this with a no-data-retention policy, but the two are different concepts. Private Safety Processing is an automated detection layer built on top of a no-storage policy, designed to still catch risks even when data isn't retained. Since it's still in preview, the scope of full rollout and whether it will extend to general users remain undecided.