You can quickly tell ChatGPT to forget something, or to remember specific things in future conversations.Today, OpenAI began rolling out the new "memory" control to a small group of ChatGPT free and paid users as part of a test, with a wider rollout to follow at an unspecified point in the future. These controls let you explicitly tell ChatGPT what to remember, see what it remembers, or turn off its memory entirely.

OpenAI explains in a blog post: "ChatGPT can now carry what it learns between chats, providing more relevant responses... When you chat with ChatGPT, you can ask it to remember something specific, or let it pick up details on its own. ChatGPT's memory increases with use, and you'll start to notice its improvement over time."

It is not difficult to imagine the circumstances under which ChatGPT with memory will come in handy. For example, if you want ChatGPT to remember that you live in the suburbs and therefore prefer driving to taking the bus, you can simply tell it this fact (e.g., "Remember that I live in the suburbs and drive most of the time."). Or, if you want the chat tool to provide parenting advice for younger children because you're raising one, you can emphasize that (e.g.: "Remember I have a kindergartener").

OpenAI also cites several ways in which memory might be useful in a business context, such as remembering the tone, voice, and formatting preferences of blog posts, as well as programming languages ​​and frameworks.

GPT (a custom chatbot powered by OpenAI models, available for purchase through GPTStore) has its own memory. For example, BooksGPT can automatically remember the books you've read and your favorite genres. But these memories are not shared with ChatGPT and vice versa.

The memory feature of ChatGPT and GPT can be disabled at any time from the ChatGPT settings menu. When turned off, ChatGPT and GPT will not create or use memories. In the same menu, you can also view and delete specific memories, or clear all memories.

Please note that deleting a chat from your chat history will not delete ChatGPT or GPT's memory, you must delete the memory itself.

Now, we can imagine that over time, ChatGPT could accumulate a lot of sensitive personal information in its memory, especially considering that the memory feature is turned on by default. OpenAI acknowledged this possibility while also saying that it may use memory to improve its models, except for ChatGPT's commercial customers and opt-out users. However, OpenAI also said that it is taking steps to guide ChatGPT not to "actively" remember sensitive information, such as health information, unless the user explicitly asks it to do so.

"ChatGPT's memory evolves with your interactions and is not tied to a specific conversation," OpenAI writes. "[And] memories associated with GPT, such as chat history, are not shared with GPT builders."

For a more privacy-preserving experience, OpenAI has launched a new ad-hoc chat feature in ChatGPT, initially limited to a small group of free and subscribed users. With ad-hoc chat, you can have a conversation with a blank slate; ChatGPT won't be aware of previous conversations or access memory, but if custom commands are enabled,Will follow the custom instructions.

However, OpenAI says it may retain copies of temporary chat conversations for up to 30 days for "security reasons."