• OpenAI confirmed that it is testing out a new memory function on its ChatGPT generative AI platform.
• The addition will allow the platform to remember aspects from previous interactions, speeding up user experience, but also adding greater context to AI-generated content.
• The new feature is rolling out to a small portion of ChatGPT free and Plus users this week.

OpenAI has announced that it is testing a new feature that could give the generative AI ChatGPT platform another leg up on its competition.

Here the company noted that it is adding a memory function to the mix. While this does not seem all that big of an announcement on the surface, being able to recall information from previous interactions or conversations would greatly improve speed and the overall user experience, not to mention making context more of an element when content is generated from prompts.

“Remembering things you discuss across all chats saves you from having to repeat information and makes future conversations more helpful,” it noted in a blog post.

“You’re in control of ChatGPT’s memory. You can explicitly tell it to remember something, ask it what it remembers, and tell it to forget conversationally or through settings. You can also turn it off entirely,” the company added.

Unpacking how the memory function on ChatGPT works, OpenAI explains that, “As you chat with ChatGPT, you can ask it to remember something specific or let it pick up details itself. ChatGPT’s memory will get better the more you use it and you’ll start to notice the improvements over time.”

You can also prompt the platform to forget a past conversation or piece of information, with the ability to manually do so available in the settings tab too.

It is here that we should point out that the generative AI platform will be trained on memories of conversations with users, but this feature can be toggled off.

“We may use content that you provide to ChatGPT, including memories, to improve our models for everyone. If you’d like, you can turn this off through your Data Controls. As always, we won’t train on content from ChatGPT Team and Enterprise customers,” OpenAI confirmed.

As mentioned, this is a test, with it rolling out to a small portion of ChatGPT free and Plus users this week.

[Image – Photo by Jonathan Kemper on Unsplash]