GeoGPT Data Security Risks for Geoscientists. The Deep-time Digital Earth (DDE) online proprietary GeoGPT Application operated by Zhejiang Lab has data security risks. In the interests of safeguarding the geological community, geologists should be fully aware so they can make informed decisions.
Extracts below of a letter published in the ‘Geoscientist’ today of the Geological Society of London. Link in the comments.
“the international version of the online GeoGPT Application automatically runs tracking scripts, some storing personal information in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and adds persistent (6-month expiry) user behaviour tracking cookies for profiling, which are not essential. This is done without user consent, no cookie banner with opt-out, or transparency, in violation of data privacy laws in many countries and legal jurisdictions.”
“the Terms do not explicitly state what the license granted by the user to Zhejiang Lab is, or its limitations. Thus, issues around data storage and the rights granted on the outputs remain vague. Furthermore, the GeoGPT Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs; GeoGPT 2025b) state that outputs are monitored by staff at Zhejiang Lab, implying there is potential for outputs to be stored and retained.”
“GeoGPT’s legal terms of use remain under the governing law of the PRC (GeoGPT, 2025a) and Zhejiang Lab is a state-affiliated, PRC entity that is subject to PRC data laws (which are considered more expansive and less constrained than many other countries). These laws mean that entities are compelled to cooperate with the PRC Government for access requests to data for intelligence gathering (Harrell, 2025). PRC law does not require users or the GeoGPT Governance Committee to be notified if Zhejiang Lab grants state actors access to data (indeed, notification may even be prohibited).”
“While Chuchla and Ludden note that Deep-time Digital Earth (DDE) and GeoGPT are now separately governed, DDE initiated GeoGPT and has a Memorandum of Understanding encouraging mutual promotion (MoU, 2025). DDE’s focus is the Global South, Africa in particular, with an emphasis on minerals and energy. For example, DDE highlight that GeoGPT could be used to better understand “the scope of research on critical minerals in West Africa for instance” and advocate for government departments to use GeoGPT to “scrutinise the proposals of investors (…from international mining companies)” (DDE, 2025).”
“Information of national strategic and economic importance may include critical minerals and oil and gas data. From a safeguarding perspective, it is important the international geoscientific community is aware of these potential risks of uploading documents, data and maps, not already in the public domain, to the GeoGPT application.”
