ChatGPT
OpenAI's general-purpose assistant. Personal plans may train on your chats unless you opt out; Business and Enterprise do not by default.
Overview
ChatGPT is OpenAI's general-purpose AI assistant. It drafts, rewrites, summarises and answers questions, and it reads documents you upload. It is not a legal research tool: it has no curated database of English case law or legislation, and it can cite cases that do not exist.
For solicitors in England and Wales
ChatGPT is useful for first drafts, plain-English explanations and summaries of material you already hold. It is not a source of law. Check every authority it names against an official source (legislation.gov.uk, BAILII or your research service) before relying on it.
The plan matters more than the model. On personal plans (Free, Go, Plus and Pro) OpenAI may train its models on your conversations unless you turn that off. On Business and Enterprise it does not by default.
Pricing
Checked 29 September 2026. OpenAI shows UK visitors prices in pounds.
- Free: usage limits apply (ChatGPT Free FAQ).
- Go: £7 a month including VAT; ad-supported.
- Plus: £20 a month including VAT.
- Pro: three usage tiers at £89, £200 and £445 a month including VAT.
- Business (formerly Team): a Standard seat is £15 a month billed annually or £18 billed monthly; a Premium seat is £75 a month billed annually. A workspace needs at least two paid seats. The business pricing page also gives US dollar prices in its small print.
- Enterprise: price on request.
Sources: ChatGPT pricing for personal plans and OpenAI business pricing.
Security and data
Checked 29 September 2026 against OpenAI's own pages.
- Training. On personal plans OpenAI may use your content to train its models; you opt out by turning off "Improve the model for everyone" under Settings > Data controls. On Business and Enterprise it does not use inputs or outputs to improve its models by default (how your data is used).
- Where data is held. Personal plans are processed on servers in the United States (OpenAI privacy policy for the UK and EEA). New Enterprise customers can choose to store content at rest in the United Kingdom. Business has no data residency option (data residency, business pricing).
- Certifications. SOC 2 Type 2 for OpenAI's business products. ISO/IEC 27001 and 27701 for the API, Enterprise and Edu; OpenAI's pricing table marks Business as not covered (security and privacy).
- Retention. Deleted chats are scheduled for permanent deletion within 30 days (chat retention).
Using it safely
- Paragraph 6.3 of the SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors: "You keep the affairs of current and former clients confidential unless disclosure is required or permitted by law or the client consents." The Law Society's guidance adds that on a free online service, where you have no relationship with the vendor other than use, you should "not put any confidential data into the tool".
- Keep client and matter details off personal plans. For client work, the firm's question is whether Business or Enterprise meets its needs, and where that data is stored.
- You remain responsible for the output. Paragraph 3.2 of the Code requires a competent service; paragraph 3.5 keeps a supervisor accountable for work done through others.
- Start with the ChatGPT setup guide for the settings to change first.