If you use Chatgpt then you must have gone through their phone number verification. But why does Chatgpt need a phone number? Its founder Open AI says Chatgpt asks for your active phone number to ensure you are a legitimate user of their chatbot. But is it the true reason or there might be a dark reality hidden from everyone? Let’s find out the truth together through this blog. We will provide you with some of the shocking reasons behind this scenario.
Reasons Behind It
Authentic Reason
Chatgpt is an open source chatbot that needs to verify that you are a true human and want to take benefits from it. Therefore it asks for your phone number just like a two step verification in your gmail. According to Open AI, it is one of the methods to prevent the intervention of spammers. Spammers can misuse Chatgpt and prevent the real users from taking benefits of the platform. Thus to identify a real user the chatbot asks for a phone number in the form of sign up like many other apps. Furthermore, Chatgpt uses the phone number to sync you with all your data presented on the same platform.
For example
“If somehow you logged out from Chatgpt, next time when you get logged in, you find all your data preserved and restored by only entering the phone number.”
These are some of the reasons that assure you that phone number verification in Chatgpt is all about your safety and ensuring precise use of the platform without intervening with your personal information. But the story does not end here. Let’s have a look at the other half of the story.
The Dark Reality: Why does Chatpgt require your phone number?
Phone numbers being a potential way to assess personal data can be a risk factor when used for verification purposes, especially on platforms like Chatgpt. As the misuse of Chatgpt is consistently increasing, many countries are now showing their concern regarding the integration of phone numbers with the chatbot.
A glimpse of the darker side of Chatgpt got an exposure when Italy put a temporary ban on the usage of Chatgpt. However, the government never confirmed that it was due to the phone number verification. But the media and some experts share their notes on how Chatgpt can be evil by taking benefits from your personal number.
How can Chatgpt Turn Into Evil Using Your Phone Number?
In recent years, Chatgpt has become the hotspot for scammers and data brokers. Personal phone numbers and your chat histories can be a potential lead for these scammers to trace your activities. They can assess your personal information and misuse it for their own profitability.
For example,
“ Scammers can keep track of your daily chat histories to understand your requirements or business perspective. They can correlate your queries with social media activities using your phone number to leverage it for their benefits.”
It exemplifies how Chatgpt can be the partner of many data brokers. Therefore phone verification can be a hidden risk that leads to potential harm in the future. Find out some more shocking reasons in our next segment.
Money laundering
Hackers can collect your business assets such as bank account details and KYC information using your phone number. They can use this data for money laundering and trap you in big scams. Lottery messages and loan messages on your cell phone that ask for bank details are big examples of such scams. Hackers collect personal phone numbers from open sources just like Chatgpt and trap people with these lucrative offers on the phone.
Malfunctioning of data
Phone numbers are used across different important platforms to access your personal data. Using your phone number driven from Chatgpt anyone can assess your personal platforms and malfunction important data. However, practically such cases are very rare. But the possibilities of it can’t be ignored in the future.
Is there any way to use Chatgpt without using a phone number?
Unfortunately, no. You can’t access Chatgpt without a phone number. However, some of the experts recommend joining through a VoIP account. VoIP accounts don’t use a real active number. But it serves you with a virtual number that helps to sign up through SMS on Chatgpt.
You can also try to log in by verifying your WhatsApp number. Choose the option “Don’t have an active number”. Chatgpt will let you verify your account by sending a code to your WhatsApp.
Otherwise, you can look for a competitor chatbot that doesn’t require your phone number to verify. There are many such open sources that are now available to use and provide the same quality as Chatgpt.
Conclusion
Wrapping it up, we can say phone number verification on Chatgpt can be a hidden threat that can hit you harder in the future. However, it’s creators ensure it is purely safe and doesn’t leak any kind of data. But you should always be considerate while using Chatgpt and should never share your personal information.
Explore More