Why ChatGPT uses your phone number

Growing uncertainties in the internet world have made most people careful about revealing personal information about themselves. When ChatGPT launched, creating an OpenAI account required both an email address and a phone number, so many people asked why ChatGPT needed their phone number. That has changed: according to OpenAI’s help center, phone verification is no longer generally required to create an account or use ChatGPT, and since April 2024 you can even try ChatGPT without an account at all.

When OpenAI still asks for your phone number

• Creating your first API key. Developers must verify a phone number on OpenAI’s platform before generating their first API key, though not for later keys. Codes are sent by SMS or, where available, WhatsApp, and one number can complete this verification for up to three accounts.
• Signing up with a phone number instead of an email. OpenAI has rolled out phone-only sign-ups for new users in a limited list of countries, including the US, India, the UK, Germany, France, Japan and Ukraine. You still need to verify an email address to upgrade to a paid plan.
• Protecting your account. You can choose to receive multi-factor authentication codes by text message or WhatsApp, although authenticator apps, push notifications and passkeys are also available.

Why OpenAI uses phone numbers

The main reasons are the same as when ChatGPT launched: a phone number helps confirm that you are a real person and makes it harder for someone else to take over your account. It also limits abuse. It is easy to create many email addresses with one phone number, but rare to have many phone numbers, which is why OpenAI caps how many accounts the same number can be used for.

Phone numbers were also seen as a way to check which country a user comes from, because ChatGPT is not available everywhere. OpenAI’s list of supported countries and territories now covers most of the world, including Egypt, which was not available when this article was first published. Russia, China and Iran are still not on the list, and using ChatGPT from an unsupported location may get an account blocked or suspended.

Should you worry about sharing your number?

It’s right to be careful with your phone number. If you permanently delete your ChatGPT account, OpenAI removes the phone number from its system after 30 days, unless the account was disabled for breaking its rules. The bigger question is what you type into the chat: avoid sharing sensitive personal information in conversations, and use the ChatGPT data controls to decide how your chats are stored and whether they are used for training.