Summary
- ChatGPT is enhancing its memory capabilities by now being able to recall information from past chat conversations, a feature previously lacking compared to Google’s Gemini. This builds upon its existing ability to remember explicitly shared preferences for more personalized and contextually relevant responses.
- Users retain control over this new feature; they can opt out of allowing ChatGPT to reference past chats or disable memory entirely in settings. Temporary chats will also bypass memory usage.
- The ability to reference past chats is rolling out starting today to ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers, with the exception of users in the EEA, UK, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein. Team, Enterprise, and Education users will gain access in the coming weeks, while availability for free users remains unannounced.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT has had the ability to recall specific information that you choose to share with it for more than a year now. Similar to Gemini’s ‘Saved Info,’ the feature lets you tell ChatGPT about your likes and dislikes, what kind of answers you prefer, dietary restrictions, and so on.
For example, I can tell the AI assistant that I am vegan, and it will remember that fact, and the next time I ask it for restaurant recommendations in a specific area, it will know to only suggest places that serve vegan food.
Related
ChatGPT vs. Gemini: Which gives the better answers?
Gemini is bringing ChatGPT some much needed competition
What ChatGPT’s memory feature has lacked, however, is the ability to recall information that hasn’t explicitly been fed to it. Starting today, however, that changes.
Google’s Gemini, for reference, can do both — It can register information that you explicitly tell it to remember, and it can also recall past chats. Now, reaching parity with Gemini, ChatGPT can recall past chats too. This should result in the AI tool being able to give you more contextually aware and relevant answers, combining what you want it to know, and what it proactively knows.
Limited to paid plan holders for now
“New conversations naturally build upon what it already knows about you, making interactions feel smoother and uniquely tailored to you,” wrote OpenAI in a tweet describing the feature, adding that users always stay in control. Users have the option to opt out of using ChatGPT memory in certain chats, or disable the feature altogether.
The feature will be enabled for you by default. However, if you’ve already opted out of ChatGPT memory, ChatGPT WILL NOT reference past chats until you manually enable the feature. Additionally, users will also have the option to tweak and change what the AI tool already knows about you, while going into a temporary chat will automatically prevent ChatGPT from referencing existing chats, and also prevent it from using the current (temporary) chat from influencing memory.
The ability to refer to past chats is rolling out starting today to all ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers globally, except for users in the European Economic Area (EEA), the UK, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein. Team, Enterprise, and Education users will gain access “in a few weeks,” suggests OpenAI. There’s no word on when this might expand to non-paying users.
