ChatGPT has proven itself capable of helping with everyday tasks such as writing, coding, and researching. The chatbot's latest feature builds on that foundation and could even make it a more effective personal assistant.

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On Thursday, OpenAI unveiled an update to the memory feature in ChatGPT: it can now reference all of your past conversations to better inform responses going forward. This expansion builds on the feature's original abilities, which allowed the chatbot to remember basic user information you share in conversations, such as your profession, pets, preferences, and more. 

The new feature expands ChatGPT's ability to provide personalized answers without requiring you to reexplain the information it has previously gathered. Much like interacting with another human (recall permitting), any new conversation builds on previous knowledge, allowing for smoother, more contextualized interactions. has yet to test the feature for performance. 

Though it is a simple feature, the release is particularly noteworthy because it highlights OpenAI's efforts to position ChatGPT as more than an AI chatbot: rather, a personal assistant that can seamlessly integrate with users' lives. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shared on X that the feature highlights what the company is excited about -- "AI systems that get to know you over your life and become extremely useful and personalized."

For example, if you were using ChatGPT to discuss a project, instead of having to explain the project with additional background information, you could just say something like, "Remember the conversation we had about the paper I was working on? What are some other ways I can start the paper?" In this instance, the chatbot would be able to remember the details of the paper you already shared and pull on personal information it saved, such as your profession and preferred writing style, to generate its answer. 

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Even though there are some clear advantages to using the updated memory feature, some users might understandably be hesitant about OpenAI storing their personal and prior conversation data. To address these concerns, the company gives users the option to opt out of the ability to remember prior conversations or the memory feature altogether within settings. 

Another option for users who may not want their every conversation referenced in the future is to turn on Temporary Chat, the ChatGPT equivalent of Incognito mode in Google Chrome, when discussing sensitive topics, which will exclude those chats from the user's memories. The only downside is that when Temporary Chat is on, ChatGPT won't be able to refer to any previously saved memories either. 

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The memories update is rolling out now to Plus and Pro users, with Team, Enterprise, and Edu users getting access in a few weeks. At the time of writing, I did not have access yet from my ChatGPT Plus account. 

Users will know they have access when they see a pop-up on their screen when they visit ChatGPT. If you have already opted out of memory in the past, you'll automatically be opted out of referencing past chats. 

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