ChatGPT Computer History: Unencrypted Mac Activity Files

ChatGPT's new Computer History feature stores your Mac activity as unencrypted plain text files. These files contain details like app usage, website visits, and document interactions. OpenAI's documentation confirms these files are not encrypted, meaning other programs running on the same macOS user account could potentially access them. Here's the thing: while ChatGPT temporarily stores interaction events, it then creates these local memories as plain-text Markdown files. This is similar to Microsoft's Recall feature for Windows. What's interesting is that the biggest risk isn't just a direct breach of ChatGPT, but rather malware or malicious applications already on your Mac accessing these unencrypted files. The bottom line: this feature is opt-in, and you have controls to exclude apps and websites. But the lack of encryption for this detailed activity history is a significant privacy concern to consider before enabling it.