ChatGPT gets major memory upgrade: can now reference all past conversations
- Marijan Hassan - Tech Journalist
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
OpenAI has rolled out a major upgrade to ChatGPT’s memory capabilities, making the AI assistant more personalized than ever. In an announcement posted to X, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed that ChatGPT can now "reference all your past conversations."
"This is a surprisingly great feature imo," Altman wrote. "It points at something we are excited about: AI systems that get to know you over your life, and become extremely useful and personalized."
The update marks a major step forward from the initial memory feature launched by OpenAI in February last year. That initial iteration allowed ChatGPT to remember specific details and preferences discussed in current and future chats. It either chose memories to store automatically, or you specified info you wanted retained.
What’s new?
As of last week, memory in ChatGPT now works in two key ways:
Saved Memories – Explicit facts or preferences you’ve asked it to remember (e.g., “I prefer bullet points in meeting notes” or “I run a local coffee shop”).
Chat History Reference – ChatGPT now automatically draws insights from all your past conversations to tailor responses, even if you didn’t explicitly ask it to remember something.
This means that everything from your preferred tone in writing to your child’s favorite animal could subtly shape future interactions. Over time, the AI becomes more fluent in your personal context. Whether that’s helping with lesson plans, suggesting themed birthday cards, or crafting business messages.
You’re still in control
What if you don’t want ChatGPT to remember all your conversations?
Turn off memory entirely or just the chat history reference in Settings > Personalization > Memory.
View, update, or delete specific memories.
Use Temporary Chat for one-off conversations that don’t use or update memory.
Importantly, if you’ve already opted out of memory, ChatGPT won’t reference your chat history by default.
Gradual rollout
The upgraded memory is now available to Plus and Pro subscribers, with access coming soon for Team, Enterprise, and Education users. The rollout follows a phased approach, with OpenAI previously testing the feature among a small group of free and Plus users to gauge usefulness and user feedback.
The bigger picture
This upgrade brings ChatGPT a step closer to becoming a long-term digital assistant—one that remembers not just what you say, but how you think and work. The vision, according to Altman, is for AI that evolves alongside its user, becoming more helpful with every interaction.
