Starbucks’ New ChatGPT Integration Is a Potential Privacy Nightmare

AI is a divisive technology. Some of us can't stand it, and avoid it at all costs. Others are AI-curious, and dabble with certain apps or features; still others still embrace it with enthusiasm, and use the tech for as many purposes as possible. Still, though I'm aware of this AI spectrum, I'm struggling to understand who exactly would want to connect their Starbucks account to ChatGPT—so, naturally, I connected mine.

Starbucks rolled out this collaboration on April 15 as a "natural, personal, and fun" way to discover new drinks to order. As someone who only ever orders a plain coffee with cream, or maybe an iced espresso, perhaps this would finally be my opportunity to branch out my taste buds, and have artificial intelligence recommend a new favorite? I'm far too shy to just, like, ask the barista for a recommendation, and I don't trust my friends to have good taste. ChatGPT really is my only hope of finding a new coffee I might enjoy!

Integrating ChatGPT and the Starbucks app means giving up a lot of your privacy

To get started, you need the latest version of the Starbucks app, as well as the ChatGPT app. You first open ChatGPT, head to "Apps," locate "Starbucks," then hit "Connect." ChatGPT then presents you with some information about what data you agree to share (boring!), including a "summary of your recent context and intent within ChatGPT." That's quite a bit of data just to ask for drink recommendations, and I'm not sure why it's necessary. It does seem to be the standard data agreement with other ChatGPT apps, but, again, why is that much data needed here? I understand requiring access to ChatGPT in order for the app to function, as well as the data generated by your requests for drinks, but in my view, Starbucks really doesn't need a summary of any past ChatGPT use to recommend me a coffee.

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To that point, I also have the option to let ChatGPT reference chats and memories when sharing data with Starbucks. I'm looking for my next go-to Starbucks order; why wouldn't I share my all of my intimate ChatGPT interactions with Starbucks? At least this one's optional: If you leave the toggle disabled (the default setting), Starbucks won't have access to memories and chats—just the aforementioned summaries. ChatGPT also warns that by connecting the Starbucks app here, attackers could target my Starbucks data, or use the Starbucks app to access my ChatGPT data. Exciting! This definitely seems worth it!

Again, it doesn't seem like the Starbucks app integration is particularly special. You're presented with the same splash screen when you do the same for other apps, like Photoshop. But I think it's important to think through the privacy implications of any app integration with ChatGPT, especially as not all apps are created equal. Do you really want to be giving Starbucks access to your ChatGPT data, and vice versa? Do you want ChatGPT knowing where your nearest Starbucks location is? All for, and I can't stress this enough, a generative AI's recommendation for a Starbucks drink? And how are those recommendations, anyway? Let's find out.

Putting the ChatGPT barista to the test

Once you agree to the terms, you're in. You can now start up a ChatGPT conversation as usual, type @starbucks to pull up the Starbucks app, and fire away. My first query was for an afternoon pick me up. This generated a widget featuring six different menu items, including an "Iced Caramel Ribbon Crunch Frappuccino," "Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew," and "Nondairy Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew." If I wanted, I could hit a "Customize" option to adjust the ingredients in the order, and an "Add to cart" button to add the drink to my cart. Underneath the widget was a breakdown of each drink recommendation, including things like flavor and caffeine count.

Upon seeing the caffeine count listed, I decided to ask ChatGPT for the drink option with the most possible caffeine. Again, I was given six recommendations, but the top choice was my go-to: a venti blonde roast, which the app said contained around 315mg of caffeine—despite Starbucks' website claiming the drink has anywhere from 390 to 490 mg. That's a big difference, seeing as the safe daily caffeine limit is generally listed at 400mg.

Next, I decided to see if Starbucks would recommend something with as much sugar as possible. It came back with another list, this time with the "Caramel Ribbon Crunch Frappuccino" taking the crown, packing 60g of sugar. (Starbucks' website confirms this for the grande size; the venti has 78g.)

What do you think so far?

That's a lot of sugar, sure, but was it really as much sugar as Starbucks could give me? ChatGPT seemed to sense my disappointment, and said, "If you want, I can build you a custom order that maxes out both caffeine and sugar at the same time." Now we're talking! ChatGPT returned with a step-by-step list to turn a Caramel Ribbon Crunch Frappuccino "into a monster:"

- Venti Caramel Ribbon Crunch F