I agree entirely that it would not be very reassuring, for the reasons you explained. But I would still consider it a mildly interesting signal to see if OpenAI would be willing to provide such an agreement in writing, and maybe make a public statement on the precise way they used the data so far.
Also: if they make a legally binding commitment, and then later evidence shows up that they violated the terms of this agreement (e.g. via whistleblowers), I do think that this is a bigger legal risk for them than breeching some fuzzy verbal agreement.
I agree entirely that it would not be very reassuring, for the reasons you explained. But I would still consider it a mildly interesting signal to see if OpenAI would be willing to provide such an agreement in writing, and maybe make a public statement on the precise way they used the data so far.
Also: if they make a legally binding commitment, and then later evidence shows up that they violated the terms of this agreement (e.g. via whistleblowers), I do think that this is a bigger legal risk for them than breeching some fuzzy verbal agreement.