OpenAI Upgrades Memory in ChatGPT, Can Reference to Users’ Previous Chats

OpenAI announced an update to the Memory feature in ChatGPT on Thursday. The San Francisco-based artificial intelligence (AI) firm is now improving the memory function so that it can not only remember certain information about users' preferences and interests, but can also remember and reference past conversations. The company said the new feature will enable the chatbot to have a more natural conversation with users, and will appear more like a companion. The new feature is currently rolling out to specific paid tiers of ChatGPT.

ChatGPT Can Now Remember Past Conversations

In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), the AI firm announced the rollout of the new Memory upgrade in ChatGPT. The feature has begun rolling out to ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers globally. However, due to data privacy rules, the company is not planning to release the feature in the European Economic Area (EEA), Liechtenstein, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and the UK. OpenAI said it will expand the feature to Team, Enterprise, and Edu users in the next few weeks.

The Memory feature was first introduced by OpenAI in February 2024 to the paid subscribers and then later expanded to all users. However, at the time, it could only remember certain pieces of information around the user's preferences and interests. However, now, Memory can not only remember this but also reference all of your past chats.

This means when a user asks the chatbot about something that was previously discussed last week, the AI will already have context of the topic and can build the conversation on top of that. Notably, in AI systems, memory function is achieved by Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG). However, OpenAI's approach is different, as it is offering a persistent user profile memory. This is likely being stored outside of individual chats, but technical details about the feature have not been disclosed.

OpenAI is also giving users the option to opt out of referencing past chats, or Memory entirely. Users can go to Settings, navigate to Personalisation, and make changes to the Memory setting. Notably, if a user previously opted out of Memory, the new feature will be turned off by default.

Users can also ask ChatGPT about what it remembers about the user by sharing a text prompt. Additionally, if users want to have a particular conversation without using memory or having the AI remember any of it, they can opt for the temporary chat option.