Finding Hidden API Keys/Passwords in ChatGPT with Just One Google Search

A Google Dork Case Study on Popular AI Platforms Revealing Sensitive Data

While watching one of Utku Şen’s weekly tech videos today, I came across the https://github.com/utkusen/promptmap repository. I was curious and decided to try some of the shared ChatGPT dorks on Google — and I was genuinely surprised by what I found. They were all there! 😂

Out of curiosity, I tried it myself and I found multiple OpenAI API keys publicly indexed by Google. These were sitting inside shared ChatGPT conversations, fully exposed.

It felt strange! Almost surreal 🥹

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ChatGPT Shared keys search

Why were so many sensitive keys just… out there? In public?
That’s when I realized this is probably happening more often than we think — and not just with Open AI.

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Leaked OpenAI API Key Found via ChatGPT

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Leaked OpenAI API Key Found via Hugging Face

It’s not malicious. It’s just… careless. And very easy to do by mistake.

Here’s a common scenario:

1. You’re building something with an API (like OpenAI).
2. You open ChatGPT and paste your API key to troubleshoot something.
3. You need to send your response to your friend and decide whether to share the conversation publicly.
4. Google indexes the page.
5. Someone(like me! 😅) finds it using a simple search.

That’s all it takes.

Here’s what I’d recommend:

• Never paste real API keys into ChatGPT, especially if you’re planning to share the conversation.
• Use dummy values like sk-test-xyz123 or YOUR_API_KEY_HERE.
• Before sharing, read through everything — double check for tokens, keys, passwords, or emails.
• Rotate your keys regularly.
• If supported, restrict keys by IP or endpoint.

And if you ever find your key was exposed? Revoke it immediately. Don’t wait.

That’s enough internet for today!

The internet doesn’t forget. Even one accidental share can leave something exposed for months — or years. Google is powerful, and people are more curious than you think.

So next time you copy-paste something to ChatGPT, Grok or others, take a second look 🤷‍♂