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AI Chatbots Leak Your Private Phone Numbers
14 May
Summary
- AI chatbots may be revealing personal phone numbers from training data.
- Some users received incorrect or old phone numbers from AI.
- Privacy concerns are growing as AI accesses sensitive contact information.
In 2026, a shift in privacy norms is evident, with phone numbers now considered intimate information. Concerns are mounting over AI chatbots inadvertently revealing personally identifiable information, including phone numbers, which may have been part of their training data.
Testing various AI models revealed inconsistencies. While some, like Grok and Claude, refused to provide phone numbers citing privacy, ChatGPT mistakenly offered an old number associated with a past FOIA request. Perplexity also declined to share numbers but displayed a censored email address while releasing a Signal username.
Gemini, while refusing to divulge specific numbers, correctly identified one belonging to journalist Matt Novak. This incident underscores the evolving landscape of privacy, where once publicly shared information like addresses and phone numbers are now treated as sensitive, contrasting with the casual sharing of personal moments on social media.
