How to Use ChatGPT Memory Across New Chats

TL;DR

ChatGPT memory carries selected details and preferences across new chats, giving future responses more personal context. You can add memories through conversation, inspect or delete them under Settings and Personalization, and use Temporary Chat when you do not want a conversation saved to history, memory, or training data.

Transcript

you remember back in February open AI told us about how we have memory and new controls for chat GPT well it must have been a super slow roll out because here I am on April 26 2024 recording a video about how I finally have memory in my account 2 and a half months after they made the announcement when I logged into my chat GPT account this morning ... Read More

Key Insights

• ChatGPT memory is a personalization feature that carries selected details and preferences between separate chats. The transcript says this can make responses more relevant over time because future conversations receive additional context about the user, their interests, and their ongoing work.
• Memory controls are located under Settings, Personalization, and Manage Memories. This area displays information ChatGPT has stored and lets users delete individual entries when they no longer want those details included in the context of future conversations.
• New memories can be created through ordinary conversation by directly asking ChatGPT to remember something. In the demonstration, ChatGPT confirms the request with a memory update notice, which also provides a quick link to the memory management screen.
• Stored information can be removed either through the memory manager or by asking ChatGPT to forget it. After the presenter requests that a family detail be forgotten, the memory update is confirmed and the managed memory list becomes empty.
• Temporary Chat is an optional mode for conversations that should not be retained. According to the demonstrated interface, a temporary conversation does not appear in chat history, does not save information to memory, and is not used as training data for OpenAI.
• Multiple submitted facts can become several separate memory entries rather than one undivided block. In the test, six bullet points produced four memories, with related family details combined into a single entry instead of being stored as separate facts.
• ChatGPT Vision can extract details from an uploaded screenshot and place the resulting information into memory when instructed. The channel screenshot yielded information about subscribers, content focus, visual branding, thumbnails, example videos, view counts, and engagement on popular content.
• Memory becomes more useful as ChatGPT accumulates relevant context across conversations. The presenter expects a growing profile to support more personalized answers, while emphasizing that users can inspect and delete stored information whenever they believe the system knows too much.

Questions & Answers

Q: How do you turn personal details into ChatGPT memories?

Tell ChatGPT directly what you want it to remember during a normal conversation. In the demonstration, the presenter states that he is married and has two children, and ChatGPT responds with a memory update confirmation. Hovering over that notice provides a quick link to manage the stored information, where the newly created memory can be reviewed or deleted.

Q: Where can you view and manage ChatGPT memories?

Open the account menu by clicking your name, select Settings, choose Personalization, and find the memories area. The Manage Memories screen shows the details ChatGPT has stored. From there, individual entries can be deleted. The transcript also demonstrates reaching this screen through the memory update notice that appears after a new detail has been saved.

Q: How can you make ChatGPT forget saved information?

You can remove information in two demonstrated ways. Open Manage Memories and delete the relevant entry, or tell ChatGPT in conversation to forget the information. When the presenter asks it to forget that he is married with two children, ChatGPT confirms another memory update. Returning to the management screen shows that the memory bank is empty.

Q: What does Temporary Chat do in ChatGPT?

Temporary Chat creates a conversation that is not retained in the same way as an ordinary chat. The interface shown in the transcript says the conversation will not appear in chat history, its contents will not be saved to memory, and nothing said there will be used as training data for OpenAI. It functions as an incognito-style option.

Q: How does ChatGPT organize several facts in memory?

ChatGPT can divide a list of facts into multiple memory entries and combine closely related information. The presenter submits six bullet points and finds four stored memories afterward. For example, details about being married and having a son and daughter are grouped into one family-related memory rather than being preserved as several completely separate entries.

Q: Can ChatGPT save information extracted from an image?

Yes, the demonstrated workflow uses ChatGPT Vision to inspect a screenshot of a YouTube channel homepage. ChatGPT identifies the channel name, subscriber count, content focus, visual branding, thumbnail style, example videos, view counts, and apparent engagement. After the presenter says to commit that information to memory, several of those extracted channel details appear in Manage Memories.

Q: How does memory improve responses in a new ChatGPT chat?

Memory supplies personal context even after a new chat window is opened. The presenter asks for known facts and receives details about his location, work, subscriber goal, interests, family, dog, and musical background. After adding more information, he requests a biography in another new chat, and ChatGPT combines personal and professional details into one response.

Q: What is the difference between memory and custom instructions?

Both can provide information that carries across chats, but the transcript characterizes memory as a more passive way to build ongoing context. Custom instructions contain information deliberately placed in a persistent instruction area. Memory can instead grow through conversations, direct requests to remember details, and information extracted from supplied materials, while remaining visible and removable through personalization settings.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• ChatGPT memory stores selected personal details, preferences, interests, and project context for use across separate conversations. The presenter demonstrates adding a family detail, confirming that the memory was saved, opening the memory manager, and then asking ChatGPT to forget the information, which removes it from the stored memory bank.

• The feature can organize several submitted facts into separate memories while grouping related details together. It also works with information extracted through ChatGPT Vision. After analyzing a YouTube channel screenshot, ChatGPT saved details about subscriber count, subject matter, branding, thumbnails, popular content, and audience engagement for later conversations.

• Stored memories can help ChatGPT produce more personalized responses as its profile of the user grows. The presenter combines manually supplied facts with information gathered from a channel screenshot and online results, then generates a personal and professional biography in a new chat. Users retain control through memory management and Temporary Chat.