What should I look out for with AI in research & science?

Never use AI as a source: every reference must be traceable to the original article, as fabricated or wrongly attributed citations are the most common error. Unpublished data, research proposals and peer-review manuscripts are confidential or commercially sensitive, so do not enter them into a consumer account without a data processing agreement, and check whether the provider stores your input or uses it for training (publishers usually prohibit this explicitly for peer review). If you work with personal data from research participants, the GDPR and your own ethics review apply: running models locally or using an EU-hosted tool with data minimisation is then the safe route. Finally, document your search strategy and your AI use: journals and funders increasingly ask for this, and a review must remain reproducible.

Home / Safety / ChatGPT for research & science

OpenAI

How safe is ChatGPT for research & science?

GDPR profile for research & scienceStrong

ChatGPT has a well-documented GDPR profile and, with the right business settings, is genuinely useful in research & science.

Where does ChatGPT stand in research & science?

Shared place 1 of 30 options for research & science (professional tools and general assistants) on GDPR profile. 5 options, like ChatGPT, have a strong profile. Each tile is an option we track for this field; click for the check.

Strong5

Good6

Limited8

Unknown4

Caution7

Published safeguards

✓EU hosting possibleYes

✓No training on your data (business)Yes

–Self-hostable (on-premise)Not known

EU data residency available for Enterprise, Edu and the API. Business and API data are not used for training by default; consumer tiers (Free/Plus/Pro) are, unless you turn this off.

How to use ChatGPT safely

Use the business variant and sign a data processing agreement (DPA).
Do not enter unnecessary personal data into prompts; anonymise where possible.
Enable EU data residency where the provider offers it.
Keep a professional in the loop: never use AI as a source: every reference must be traceable to the original article, as invented or misattributed citations are the most common error.

Stronger or equally strong in research & science

CradleCradle (Amsterdam, the Netherlands and Zürich, Switzerland)

ASReview LABUniversiteit Utrecht (the Netherlands)

KeeniousKeenious (Norway)

ScholarcyEverway Opco Limited / Scholarcy (Antrim, United Kingdom)

SciSpacePubGenius Inc. (Milpitas, United States)

Latest developments

5 November 2026Flaw in Lockdown Mode patched

Via pop-up windows in the HTML preview of code blocks, an attacker could bypass Lockdown Mode and siphon off your chat history, via a manipulated prompt, GPT or shared chat. OpenAI patched the flaw on 18 September 2026; Check Point published the details on 5 November. Users do not need to do anything. source

1 November 2026Reports to the police and stricter rules for teens

In the third quarter of 2026, OpenAI made more than 200 reports to law enforcement about threatened violence based on ChatGPT conversations. Conversations in which someone appears fixated on violence may be ended automatically by ChatGPT, and if it happens repeatedly, OpenAI can pause the account. So don't assume that what you type into ChatGPT stays confidential. source

27 October 2026Connection with iCloud Mail and Calendar on all subscriptions

ChatGPT can use plugins to search and summarise iCloud mail and change appointments, including on the free subscription. Signing in uses an app-specific password from Apple; it remains valid if you disconnect the integration in ChatGPT and you must revoke it yourself via account.apple.com. source

Questions

How safe is ChatGPT for research & science?: ChatGPT has a strong published GDPR profile and, with the right business settings, is well suited to research & science. EU options, no training on your data and/or self-hostable.
Does ChatGPT train on my data?: EU data residency available for Enterprise, Edu and the API. Business and API data are not used for training by default; consumer tiers (Free/Plus/Pro) are, unless you turn this off.
What should I look out for with AI in research & science?: Never use AI as a source: every reference must be traceable to the original article, as fabricated or wrongly attributed citations are the most common error. Unpublished data, research proposals and peer-review manuscripts are confidential or commercially sensitive, so do not enter them into a consumer account without a data processing agreement, and check whether the provider stores your input or uses it for training (publishers usually prohibit this explicitly for peer review). If you work with personal data from research participants, the GDPR and your own ethics review apply: running models locally or using an EU-hosted tool with data minimisation is then the safe route. Finally, document your search strategy and your AI use: journals and funders increasingly ask for this, and a review must remain reproducible.

Source documents

developers.openai.com openai.com

Everything about ChatGPT Best AI for research & science

Summarised by the editorial team from provider documentation · not legal advice

Last checked: 15 October 2026 · How we check

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