Summary
I found a serious data-deletion issue affecting Archived Chats in a ChatGPT Edu workspace.
I have one conversation in my Archived Chats section. Every attempt to permanently delete it fails. The conversation
remains visible even after I click the trash icon and confirm deletion.
This is not a question about how to use the Delete button. I followed the official instructions and confirmed through
Chrome Developer Tools that the deletion request reaches OpenAI’s backend but fails with an internal server timeout.
Environment
- Product: ChatGPT Web
- Workspace type: ChatGPT Edu
- Operating system: Windows
- Browser: Google Chrome 150.0.7871.115
- Also reproduced in the ChatGPT mobile app
- Archived conversations currently affected: one
For privacy reasons, I am not publishing my login email or the full conversation ID publicly. I can provide them
privately to an authorized OpenAI employee.
Steps to reproduce
- Open ChatGPT in an Edu workspace.
- Open Settings.
- Go to Data Controls.
- Open Archived Chats.
- Click the trash icon beside the archived conversation.
- Confirm permanent deletion.
- Wait for the operation to finish.
Expected behavior
The conversation should immediately disappear from Archived Chats and be scheduled for permanent deletion according to
OpenAI’s published retention policy.
Official deletion instructions:
https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8809935-how-to-delete-and-archive-chats-in-chatgpt
Actual behavior
The deletion operation waits for approximately 30 seconds and then fails.
The archived conversation remains in the account and cannot be permanently deleted.
Network evidence
Chrome Developer Tools shows the following request:
Request method:
PATCH
Request endpoint:
https://chatgpt.com/backend-api/conversation/<conversation_id>
Request payload:
{
"is_visible": false
}
Result:
HTTP 500 Internal Server Error
Response:
{
"detail": "Request timeout"
}
Request duration:
Approximately 30.37 seconds
The archive operation for the same conversation succeeds with HTTP 200 in approximately 0.9 seconds. Normal
conversation-list and heartbeat requests also return HTTP 200.
This indicates that the browser successfully reaches OpenAI’s backend, but the server-side deletion process times out.
## Troubleshooting already completed
I have already tried:
- Retrying the deletion multiple times
- Refreshing ChatGPT
- Clearing browser cache and cookies
- Signing out and signing back in
- Using the ChatGPT mobile app
- Deleting through Settings > Data Controls > Archived Chats
- Archiving the conversation again
- Monitoring the operation in Chrome Developer Tools
- Confirming that other ChatGPT requests work normally
None of these steps resolved the issue.
A missing Chinese translation warning also appeared in the console, but it is unrelated. The actual deletion failure
is the backend HTTP 500 response.
## Impact
This prevents a user from exercising the expected ability to permanently delete their own conversation data.
The issue is particularly concerning in an Edu workspace because users may need reliable control over retained
conversation data.
The conversation is not publicly shared, but it remains stored in Archived Chats against the user’s explicit deletion
request.
## Support experience
I contacted OpenAI Support and provided the technical evidence. The initial responses only contained general help
articles, even though the standard self-service deletion procedure had already been tested and the backend HTTP 500
error had been documented.
Some newly created reports were automatically classified as duplicates, but I have not yet received confirmation that
a human agent or backend engineer is investigating the deletion failure.
## Requested resolution
I am asking OpenAI to:
1. Confirm whether this is a known ChatGPT or ChatGPT Edu bug.
2. Escalate the issue to the backend/data engineering team.
3. Investigate why the conversation-deletion endpoint times out.
4. Repair or remove the affected conversation record.
5. Permanently delete the affected archived conversation.
6. Ensure that deletion failures return a meaningful error instead of a generic timeout.
7. Confirm when the issue has been resolved.
I can privately provide the full conversation ID, request timestamp, CF-Ray identifier, build identifier, and
additional diagnostic information to an authorized OpenAI employee.
Has anyone else encountered an archived conversation that consistently returns HTTP 500 when deleted?