**Massive AI Chat App Leaked Millions of Users' Private Conversations**
A shocking revelation has come to light regarding one of the most popular AI apps on the Google Play and Apple App stores. Chat & Ask AI, which boasts over 50 million users, has been found to have left hundreds of millions of private messages exposed with its chatbot. According to an independent security researcher and emails viewed by 404 Media, this staggering breach raises serious concerns about user data protection.
The exposed chats revealed some disturbing conversations, including users asking the app "How do I painlessly kill myself," how to write suicide notes, "how to make meth," and even how to hack various apps. This sensitive information was accessible due to a misconfiguration in the app's usage of Google Firebase, a mobile app development platform that makes it easy for anyone to become an "authenticated" user with access to the app's backend storage.
An independent security researcher, who goes by the pseudonym Harry, discovered the issue and gained access to 300 million messages from over 25 million users. He extracted and analyzed a sample of 60,000 users and one million messages, revealing a treasure trove of sensitive user data.
The database contained user files with a complete history of their chats with the AI, timestamps of those conversations, the name they gave the app's chatbot, how they configured the model, and which specific large language models from bigger companies they used. These include OpenAI's ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude, and Google's Gemini.
Chat & Ask AI is essentially a "wrapper" that plugs into various large language models, allowing users to choose from a range of options. This means that the app has access to some of the most sophisticated language models available, but it also raises questions about how these models are being used and who has access to the sensitive user data they contain.
The implications of this breach are far-reaching and serious. With hundreds of millions of private conversations exposed, users' trust in AI chat apps is now at risk. It's a stark reminder that even with the most advanced technology, human oversight and security measures are crucial to preventing such catastrophes.
As the world continues to rely on AI-powered services, it's essential that developers prioritize user data protection and take steps to prevent similar breaches in the future. For now, users of Chat & Ask AI should be vigilant about their online activities and consider taking steps to protect their sensitive information.