The company behind ChatGPT is preparing to launch an LLM ‘superapp’ for desktop computers which will have full unbridled access and admin privileges on your machine.
The application will consolidate several products into a single persistent tool that permanently resides on the user’s computer, which will access the web automatically, write code, direct interactions including full screen viewing and file access.
The stated goal is to turn users into active computational resources, effectively treating users as ‘compute metrics’ and bringing ‘dead internet theory’ to a whole new level.
OpenAI’s apparent vision raises serious concerns about privacy and data control, and violates practically every data privacy law in existence. The superapp’s access to all system files means granted administrator privileges to a company notorious for saying one thing and doing another.
Coupled with this persistent access, the application will log every prompt entered, which will be sent back to OpenAI servers without user recourse. In effect, it is the most blatant surveillance sold as convenience.
This is not a new development; OpenAI’s history is already marked by regulatory scrutiny over its misuse of user data.
Previous findings included violations of privacy law involving scraped personal data, fabricated facts (or so-called hallucinations), and a lack of data retention policies.
The company’s prolific use of deceptive data opt-out mechanisms, and Sam Altman’s history of blatant lying further demonstrates a pattern of prioritising data acquisition at all costs.
Fundamentally, the company’s stated goal is the problem: transforming users into compute entities while simultaneously embedding spyware directly on their devices.
The so-called superapp moves the goal posts beyond the distinct nature of chatbots, embedding itself into the user’s activities and private data.
This follows a trajectory where the company itself, after having scraped the internet and essentially stolen data to build its models, now seeks to place itself in a position where it can scrape even more personal data.
The juxtaposition of a company with such a history, currently valued at some $850 billion despite never having turned a profit, and seeking to monetise user interaction through its core products, underscores the centralisation of user data and behaviour.
Ultimately, critics’ assertions that ‘you are the product’ have never rung more true. The company’s superapp will turn users into mere compute units, relegate basic privacy standards to a bygone era and set a banal precedent for spyware as a service.
