OpenAI: Soon, you can instruct ChatGPT to remember, forget things in a chat

Called memory controls, the feature is currently under testing by OpenAI with a broader rollout expected in near future

OpenAI is testing a new “memory” feature on its AI-powered ChatGPT. The memory controls on the ChatGPT would allow the chatbot to either remember or forget key instructions and details that the user shares. This would likely help the users eliminate the need of repeating information and make the conversation more personalised. The new feature is still in its experimental stage and has started rolling out for select users from both free and Plus tiers.

What are ChatGPT memory controls

While using ChatGPT for conversation or assistance, users can ask the chatbot to remember specific details or provide it with instructions that it needs to follow when performing specific tasks in the future. With this feature enabled, ChatGPT would pick up details itself and improve accordingly over time. For example, if you ask ChatGPT to summarise texts in limited words and provide bullet points at the end, it will provide a summary in the requested format every time you ask it to do so in the future.

Similarly, you can ask ChatGPT to forget a specific detail or instruction. Alternatively, OpenAI would allow deletion of specific memory under the new Manage Memory section from the Personalization menu in Settings. Users can also disable the memory feature completely from the same menu.

It should be noted that memories stored with ChatGPT are not restricted to a single conversation and deleting a chat does not erase the memory that it has collected. If the user wishes to have a conversation without using memories and does not want to disable the feature or erase memories, it can be done on a temporary chat, which is accessible through a drop down menu from the top of the screen.

Memory on custom GPTs

OpenAI would likely roll out memory controls for custom GPTs in the coming weeks. The company said, when available, GPT builders will have the option to enable memory on each individual GPT. Each GPT will have a separate memory so the user will have to repeat the instruction they previously provided to ChatGPT or another GPT.

Privacy

OpenAI stated that the memory feature comes with additional privacy and safety considerations. According to the company, ChatGPT will not remember sensitive information, for example, details about the user’s health. However, the user can explicitly ask the chatbot to remember such details.

The company said that it may use content provided by the user to improve their model, however, the option to disable data collection is also available within Data Controls.

For memory with GPTs, the company has confirmed that the data collected using memory on an individual chatbot will not be shared with the builder.