In Men in Black, the movie’s alien investigators can wipe memories using a small gadget called a Neuralyzer.
In real life, it can often feel like someone is using the same device on AI chatbots. As helpful as they are, the digital geniuses can’t remember what they’ve been told in past conversations. Each time you start a new chat, you’re presented with a blank slate.
Now, the most popular chatbot of them all is set to overcome this massive impediment. OpenAI has given ChatGPT a persistent “memory”, meaning it can now recall info and use it in future interactions.
The upgrade, which is currently being tested on select users, has the potential to make ChatGPT a lot more helpful for work and play.
How to turn on ChatGPT’s memory
To find out if you have access to the update, open ChatGPT’s settings panel by clicking your username at the bottom left of the screen. Now, click “personalisation” and switch the “memory” toggle on or off. If you don’t see either of those options, you’re out of luck.
For its part, OpenAI says it will announce plans for its broader availability soon, which sounds like it’s trying to figure out whether to charge users for it.
How ChatGPT’s memory works
How you use ChatGPT’s memory is up to you. You could just carry on chatting to the bot as usual and let it pick up information on its own. Or, you can nudge it to remember something specific.
As for its practical uses, OpenAI says the bot can recall the type of business you own when you’re crafting social media posts. If you’re a teacher, it can remember the size of your class and the length of the lesson plans you prefer. Say you’ve previously mentioned that you have a toddler that likes jellyfish, ChatGPT can use that info when planning a birthday party.
How to delete ChatGPT’s memories
Of course, there are things you won’t want saved. But, instead of constantly switching its memory on or off, you can simply tell the bot to forget something. You can also view and delete specific memories or wipe them all in settings. However, deleting a conversation won’t cause its corresponding memory to be removed.
Alternatively, you can start a temporary chat, which is a bit like ChatGPT’s incognito mode.
