ChatGPT’s memory used to be simple. You told it what to remember, and it listened.

Since 2024, ChatGPT has had a memory feature that lets users store helpful context. From your tone of voice and writing style to your goals, interests, and ongoing projects. You could go into settings to view, update, or delete these memories. Occasionally, it would note something important on its own. But largely, it remembered what you asked it to. Now, that’s changing.

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is rolling out a major upgrade to its memory. Beyond the handful of facts you manually saved, ChatGPT will now draw from all of your past conversations to inform future responses by itself.

According to OpenAI, memory now works in two ways: “saved memories,” added directly by the user, and insights from “chat history,” which are the ones that ChatGPT will gather automatically.

This feature, called long-term or persistent memory, is rolling out to ChatGPT Plus and Pro users. However, at the time of writing, it’s not available in the UK, EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, or Switzerland due to regional regulations.

The idea here is simple: the more ChatGPT remembers, the more helpful it becomes. It’s a big leap for personalization. But it’s also a good moment to pause and ask what we might be giving up in return.