Understanding ChatGPT's "Memory"

ChatGPT does not possess a persistent, long-term memory in the human sense. Its understanding of a conversation is primarily based on the context provided within the current chat session. This context is limited and fades as the conversation length increases. However, the platform stores chat history, which users might interpret as memory they wish to remove. There are also features that store persistent instructions across conversations.

Removing Specific Chat Conversations

Deleting individual conversations is the most common way to remove past interactions accessible through the user interface. This action removes the specific chat thread from the sidebar history.

• Locate the conversation: Find the chat thread in the sidebar on the left side of the ChatGPT interface.
• Hover over the chat: Mouse over the title of the specific conversation.
• Click the trash can icon: A trash can icon (delete) will appear next to the chat title. Click it.
• Confirm deletion: A confirmation prompt will appear. Confirm the deletion.

Deleting a conversation removes it from the user's viewable history.

Turning Off Future Conversation History

Users can prevent new conversations from being saved and used to train future models. This stops the platform from keeping a record of new interactions in the sidebar history.

• Access Settings: Click on the account name in the bottom left corner of the screen.
• Select Settings: Choose "Settings" from the menu.
• Go to Data Controls: In the settings window, navigate to the "Data controls" section.
• Toggle Chat History & Training: Find the option labeled "Chat History & Training" and toggle it off. The switch will turn gray.

When chat history is off, new conversations started while this setting is active will not be saved in the sidebar and will not be used for model training. It's important to note that conversations started before turning off this setting are still retained unless individually deleted.

Managing Custom Instructions (Persistent Preferences)

Custom Instructions allow users to set preferences or background information that ChatGPT should remember and apply to all future conversations. These are stored persistently.

• Access Settings: Click on the account name in the bottom left corner of the screen.
• Select Settings: Choose "Settings" from the menu.
• Go to Data Controls: In the settings window, navigate to the "Data controls" section.
• Select Custom Instructions: Find and click on "Custom instructions."
• Delete or Edit: The existing custom instructions will be displayed. To remove them, delete the text from both input fields ("What would you like ChatGPT to know about you to provide better responses?" and "How would you like ChatGPT to respond?").
• Save Changes: Click the "Save" button at the top right of the Custom Instructions window.

Clearing the text and saving effectively removes the persistent custom instructions.

What Cannot Be "Removed" (Context Limitations)

The short-term context within a single, ongoing conversation cannot be selectively "removed." This context is what allows ChatGPT to follow the flow of the current discussion. As a conversation continues, the earliest parts of the discussion eventually fall outside the model's limited context window and are effectively "forgotten" during that session, but they remain part of the saved chat history until that history is deleted.

Data Retention by OpenAI

Even with chat history turned off or after deleting conversations, OpenAI retains data for a limited period for safety review and other purposes. Turning off history prevents new conversations from being saved to the user's history feed and from being used in model training, but does not immediately erase all records from OpenAI's systems. Referencing OpenAI's official data usage and privacy policies provides the most accurate details on their data retention practices.