ChatGPT vs Midjourney
Side-by-side comparison of the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy of ChatGPT and Midjourney.
The documents offer strong transparency, deletion/export rights, and local-court dispute resolution, which are helpful for users. The main concerns are broad content-processing rights, some retention beyond deletion, and extensive sharing for service, security, and legal purposes.
ChatGPT’s consumer terms are relatively user-protective on dispute rights and deletion controls, with no mandatory arbitration in the EEA/UK version and explicit access to local courts. The main tradeoff is broad permission to use user content to operate, improve, and secure the service, plus model-training use unless you opt out. Privacy disclosures are detailed, with export/deletion tools and statutory rights, but they also describe sharing with vendors, affiliates, and authorities, and retention beyond deletion for security, legal, and fraud reasons.
Points of interest
-
negative ●●●●○ termsBroad content usage rights
OpenAI can use your content worldwide to provide, maintain, develop, improve, and secure the services, plus enforce terms. For users, this is a wide license covering very broad operational uses.
-
positive ●●●●○ termsLocal courts available
If a dispute cannot be resolved informally, the terms let either side go to local courts instead of forcing arbitration. That preserves a user’s ability to sue in court.
-
positive ●●●●○ privacyDelete and export tools
The privacy policy says you can delete chats or your account and export your history and data. That makes it easier to leave or clean up your data than with many services.
-
positive ●●●●○ privacyStatutory privacy rights listed
The policy expressly lists access, deletion, correction, portability, restriction, consent-withdrawal, and complaint rights. Users also get instructions for submitting requests.
-
negative ●●●○○ privacyModel training uses content
The privacy policy says some content may be used to improve services and train models unless you opt out. That means chats and uploads may contribute to model development by default in some cases.
-
negative ●●●○○ privacyBroad data sharing
OpenAI shares personal data with vendors, affiliates, business account administrators, and sometimes government authorities or other third parties. Users should expect their data to leave the service in multiple scenarios.
-
negative ●●●○○ privacyRetention beyond deletion
Deleted data may still be kept for up to 30 days, and longer for legal, security, fraud, or accounting reasons. So deletion is not always immediate or absolute.
-
positive ●●●○○ termsTraining opt-out available
OpenAI says it may use your content to train models, but you can opt out in account settings. That gives users some control over whether their chats help improve the system.
-
negative ●●○○○ termsAuto-renewing subscriptions
Paid subscriptions renew automatically until canceled, so users need to manage cancellation themselves to avoid further charges. The terms do provide a 14-day cooling-off period for EEA consumers.
-
positive ●●○○○ privacyTemporary chats auto-delete
Temporary Chats are described as being automatically deleted within 30 days, and Atlas incognito browsing history is not saved after a session ends. This can reduce long-term retention for some activity.
Documents
Users get some meaningful privacy rights and a clear deletion/access path, but the service combines broad content licensing, mandatory arbitration, unilateral policy changes, public-by-default sharing, and substantial data sharing/retention.
Midjourney’s legal terms are fairly standard for an AI generation service but are strongly company-protective in several areas. Users retain ownership of their creations to the extent allowed by law, yet Midjourney gets a broad, perpetual license to use inputs and outputs, defaults public sharing/remixing on, and requires binding arbitration in California. The privacy policy is more user-friendly on deletion and access rights, with clear account-based request flows and explicit non-sale language, though it still collects prompts, uploads, usage data, and shares data with advertisers and service providers.
Points of interest
-
negative ●●●●● termsBroad perpetual content license
Midjourney can use, modify, sublicense, and distribute your prompts and generated assets forever, even after you leave. That means your content may be reused for service, product, or downstream purposes without additional payment or permission.
-
negative ●●●●○ termsPublic sharing by default
Content you post is publicly viewable and remixable unless you use the limited Stealth feature. In shared spaces like Discord, other people can still see your creations regardless of Stealth.
-
negative ●●●●○ termsMandatory arbitration clause
Disputes must go to binding arbitration in Santa Clara County, and you waive the right to a jury trial. This can make it harder and more expensive to bring claims in court.
-
negative ●●●●○ termsCan change terms unilaterally
Midjourney can update the agreement and keep the service terms changing over time, with continued use treated as acceptance. If you disagree, your only real option is to stop using the service.
-
negative ●●●●○ termsSuspension at any time
The company can suspend or ban access at any time and for any reason. That creates a significant account-risk if your work depends on continuous access.
-
positive ●●●●○ privacyNo card storage stated
Midjourney says it uses third-party processors and does not store your credit card information, only confirmation that payment was made. That reduces the amount of sensitive payment data kept directly by Midjourney.
-
negative ●●●○○ privacyData shared with advertisers
Midjourney says it may use analytics and advertising partners and advertising cookies to deliver more relevant ads. Users can opt out of certain sharing in privacy settings, but the default collection/sharing posture is still fairly broad.
-
negative ●●●○○ privacyPrompt and upload collection
The service collects prompts, uploaded content, IP address, cookies, usage data, and contact details. For an AI tool, that means the things you type and upload may become part of the service’s retained personal data footprint.
-
negative ●●●○○ privacyLong retention for disputes
Personal data is kept as long as needed for the stated purposes, legal compliance, disputes, and enforcement. In practice, that means information may linger well beyond account use if Midjourney decides it is needed for legal or policy reasons.
-
neutral ●●●○○ privacySome deletion and access rights
EEA, UK, Swiss, and California users have access, correction, deletion, portability, and some objection/opt-out rights. The practical upside is a usable account-based path to request account/data deletion.
-
positive ●●●○○ privacyDeletion via account page
The policy gives a concrete path to delete your account and data through the account page, and says survey data can also be accessed and deleted. That makes rights requests more actionable than vague contact-only promises.
Documents
Comparison is based on each service's published Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Read the source documents linked above before relying on any specific clause.