ChatGPT recently introduced a major upgrade to its memory capabilities, with the focus on making your interactions more personal and context aware. ChatGPT memory now works in two ways:
Saved memories: Where you explicitly tell ChatGPT what to remember, and
Reference chat history: Where ChatGPT passively learns from your ongoing conversations.
What does this mean in practice?
Once you have enabled ‘reference chat history’ setting, ChatGPT will reference your past conversations to recall useful information you’ve shared. It remembers your interests, preferences, goals, working style, even recurring pain points, and uses them to shape future responses. Unlike the older experience, where every chat was a fresh start, now your AI assistant comes into each conversation a little wiser.
Think of it like working with a team member who gradually picks up your rhythm, remembers past decisions, and doesn’t need a weekly recap. Whether you’re planning, reflecting, or making decisions, the continuity this brings makes a real difference.
How to enable:
In ChatGPT interface, Go to Settings > Personalization > Enable “Reference Chat History”
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ChatGPT’s memory can help you:
Personalize insights: Get answers grounded in your past queries and preferences.
Accelerate learning: Reinforce concepts based on previous struggles or goals.
Improve strategy: Make better decisions with continuity in past business conversations.
Example:
Imagine you’re a product head planning next quarter’s strategy. You’ve used ChatGPT to explore past go-to-market plans, pricing debates, and messaging ideas. Now, with memory turned on, try prompts like:
-Based on what you know about my work so far, what are some potential blind spots I might be missing?
-Based on our past conversations, what kind of messaging resonates best with my target audience?
-Based on my previous questions and strategies, what are three experiments I can run to improve traction or growth?
-Based on our past conversations, what kind of content or communication style helps me build more trust with clients or partners?
Think of these as starting prompts—your goal is not just to stop here but to continue the conversation based on how ChatGPT responds. The deeper the back-and-forth, the more refined and actionable the insights become. These questions build on your own past thinking, like having a strategist who remembers everything you’ve ever brainstormed.
What makes this memory update special?
It’s proactive: You don’t need to repeat yourself each time.
It’s flexible: You can disable ‘Reference Chat History’ anytime.
It’s useful for work: It helps decision makers maintain context across fast-moving priorities.
Mint’s ‘AI tool of the week’ is excerpted from Leslie D’Monte’s weekly TechTalk newsletter. Subscribe to Mint’s newsletters to get them directly in your email inbox.
Note: The tools and analysis featured in this section demonstrated clear value based on our internal testing. Our recommendations are entirely independent and not influenced by the tool creators.
Jaspreet Bindra is co-founder and CEO of AI&Beyond. Anuj Magazine is also a co-founder.
