ChatGPT Will Soon Remember What You Did Last Summer
- By Paul Mah
- February 14, 2024
OpenAI has unveiled the ability for its popular ChatGPT service to remember details that you discuss with it to make future chats more helpful.
The upcoming long-term memory feature is simply called “Memory”, and will work much like a real-life personal assistant who remembers details about your preferences from conversations.
The feature works automatically, with ChatGPT automatically identifying and storing information that could prove useful in the future.
Below are a couple of examples given by OpenAI:
- You mention that you have a toddler and that she loves jellyfish. When you ask ChatGPT to help create her birthday card, it suggests a jellyfish wearing a party hat.
- As a kindergarten teacher with 25 students, you prefer 50-minute lessons with follow-up activities. ChatGPT remembers this when helping you create lesson plans.
ChatGPT remembers
“You're in control of ChatGPT's memory. You can explicitly tell it to remember something, ask it what it remembers, and tell it to forget conversationally or through settings. You can also turn it off entirely,” says OpenAI in a blog explaining how it works.
Users can also instruct ChatGPT to remember something specific or ask if something is already in its memory. The feature is optional and can be turned off entirely by going to Settings → Personalization → Memory.
Deleting a chat doesn't erase its memories. However, what ChatGPT remembers can be directly managed from Settings. Alternatively, one can simply tell ChatGPT to forget specific information.
For users who prefer not having their chats show up in history or have ChatGPT inconveniently remember something, a new “Temporary Chat” option has been created for the expressed purpose of transient chat sessions.
GPTs with memory
The memory feature is being rolled out to a “small portion” of ChatGPT free and Plus users this week. OpenAI says it will share plans for a broader rollout soon.
In the same blog announcement, OpenAI also noted that GPTs will have their distinct memory eventually, too. According to OpenAI, Builders will have the option to enable memory for their GPTs. Similar to chats, memories are not shared with builders.
“The Books GPT helps you find your next read. With memory enabled, it remembers your preferences, such as favorite genres or top books, and tailors recommendations accordingly, without needing repeated inputs,” says OpenAI.
To interact with a memory-enabled GPT, users will first need to enable memory for their own ChatGPT account. On its part, memory for GPTs is unique to each GPT, and will be available when memory is rolled out more broadly.
Image credit: OpenAI
Paul Mah
Paul Mah is the editor of DSAITrends, where he report on the latest developments in data science and AI. A former system administrator, programmer, and IT lecturer, he enjoys writing both code and prose.