ChatGPT Memory Feature and New Controls Quick-Start Guide: Make Conversations Easier

The key change in ChatGPT’s new memory feature isn’t that it “chats better,” but that it can remember your preferences across multiple conversations, reducing the need for repeated explanations. More importantly, ChatGPT gives control back to you: you can view it, delete it, turn it off, and even use Temporary Chat to leave no trace at all.

What ChatGPT’s memory feature actually remembers: from preferences to work habits

After enabling ChatGPT’s memory feature, it may record the writing tone you repeatedly emphasize, commonly used formats, learning goals, or items you explicitly ask it to “remember.” This way, the next time you ask ChatGPT to write copy, revise an email, or create a study plan, it will better match your habits—without you having to set everything up from scratch each time.

Note that ChatGPT’s memory feature doesn’t memorize every conversation word for word; instead, it distills them into “reusable information.” You can also ask ChatGPT directly, “What do you remember about me?” to quickly check whether it remembered something incorrectly.

How to use the new controls: view, delete, and one-click disable

When ChatGPT updates its memory, a prompt will appear in the interface. You can tap into “Manage memories” to see which entries it has saved. If there’s anything that shouldn’t be kept, you can delete entries one by one, or clear all memories.

If you don’t want ChatGPT to reference past information, you can turn off “Saved memories” or “Chat history” in Settings. After turning it off, ChatGPT won’t use memory to answer by default, nor will it continue updating related memories.

Temporary Chat: not saved to history, doesn’t use memory, better for sensitive topics

Temporary Chat is the “reverse switch” of ChatGPT’s memory feature. It’s suitable for one-off consultations, handling file content temporarily, or conversations you don’t want to be linked long-term. When you use Temporary Chat, ChatGPT won’t write the conversation to your history, and it won’t use or update the memory feature.

For people who often switch between work and personal life, Temporary Chat helps separate scenarios that “need personalization” from those that “need a clean context,” making the experience more consistent.

Privacy and training options: what content may be used to improve the model

OpenAI states that content in ChatGPT (including memories) may be used to improve the model; if you don’t want that, you can turn off the relevant option under “Data Controls.” For workspaces such as Team and Enterprise, OpenAI also emphasizes that customer content will not be used for training.

In addition, deleting a chat record is not the same as deleting an entry in ChatGPT’s memory feature; if you want it to truly forget, you need to delete the corresponding memory separately in “Manage memories.”