The Download

• ChatGPT can tell people where you are (or were) by scanning your image. 
• You can maintain your privacy but you have to take a few extra steps to do it.
• Stay safe: Never share your personal location with anyone online.

Think ChatGPT doesn't know where you are? Think again. The AI master can already create images from words, and now it can use visual reasoning models to scan images for tiny details to determine where you are.

Two Quick Options to Protect Your Privacy

To keep your privacy, you need to either remove metadata from images or simply crop tell-tale details out.

For example, you can get rid of details by blurring backgrounds in your images so ChatGPT (and humans) can't detect any clues. The more technical metadata is computer information embedded into images that often includes small pieces of information that most humans can't detect.

What You Need to Remove Identifying Information

You can use a photo editing app to blur things but if you want to go deeper and remove metadata, you'll need a third-party app like Google Photos or ExifEraser to get the job done. You can also use computer programs like Photoshop or Microsoft Paint to do this.

Most smartphones have pretty sophisticated photo editing apps these days. iPhone, for example, offers Portrait mode to automatically blur backgrounds when taking a photos or you can adjust the blur level using the Depth Control slider.

Android phones are made by different manufacturers; most should be compatible with a photo editing app like Google Photos, Snapseed, or Picsart. Some Samsung phones let you add a portrait effect or adjust background blur directly from the Gallery app, though, so you won't need an outside app.