OpenAI and the reinvention of email

My view: for a European customer/dev, the top setting is not one switch, it is identity separation first. If you want the strongest practical baseline, I would choose this order: * Separate identity for openai Use a dedicated email/account only for OpenAI/dev work. That reduces blast radius, keeps your audit trail cleaner, and makes account recovery/security management easier. OpenAI’s own guidance is to secure the account with strong authentication and to act quickly on suspected compromise. * Passkey + MFA before anything else. If passkeys are available on your account, that is the strongest default OpenAI currently documents for sign-in hardening. If not, enable MFA and review sessions/devices regularly. * For enterprise/EU governance: Microsoft/Azure is usually the stronger control plane. If your SAP–Azure contract stays, then from a governance/operations angle I would lean toward a Microsoft-managed identity stack for work: Entra/Defender-style enterprise controls, device compliance, logging, and conditional access are simply easier to operationalize in a business environment. That is my architectural judgment, not an OpenAI policy statement. * For personal separation/privacy: Proton is a good isolation layer. If the goal (my goal is 100 % that) is to cut Gmail completely out of your OpenAI footprint, a dedicated Proton address for the standalone OpenAI identity is reasonable. The key point is not “Proton vs Microsoft” as ideology; it is do not mix personal, public, and production identities. That part is my practical recommendation. * API side: never let convenience break security. OpenAI explicitly recommends unique API keys per member, never shipping keys client-side, using environment variables or a key-management service, and monitoring/rotating keys when needed. * On the EU point: you’re also right that the EU AI Act creates a heavier builder environment than the US/UK in practice, because it is a directly applicable EU regulation and adds a structured compliance layer for systems placed on the EU market or used in the EU. So my short question and the option would be: Best EU default identity: dedicated OpenAI-only identity, passkey/MFA separate work vs personal accounts Azure/Microsoft stack for enterprise control Proton or other strong VPN only want strict standalone separation from Gmail strict API key hygiene from day 1 For me, cybersecurity today is not optional housekeeping, the most important. Thank you @PaulBellow @jeffvpace @vb for your support! With this settings maybe could become the company more customers and market there too. openai-staff GPT builders