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Professor Loses Two Years' Work After ChatGPT Data Loss

1/26/2026

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Summary

Story summary

University of Cologne professor Marcel Bucher lost two years of work after disabling the data consent option in OpenAI's ChatGPT.
He had relied on ChatGPT for various tasks, but all his chats and project folders were deleted without warning.
Some social media users criticized AI reliance and questioned the authenticity of his Nature account, while Bucher noted institutions encourage AI use but the tools lack academic reliability.

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Story summary

University of Cologne professor Marcel Bucher lost two years of work after disabling the data consent option in OpenAI's ChatGPT.
He had relied on ChatGPT for various tasks, but all his chats and project folders were deleted without warning.
Some social media users criticized AI reliance and questioned the authenticity of his Nature account, while Bucher noted institutions encourage AI use but the tools lack academic reliability.