ChatGPT's memory feature is rolling out widely, but I have one big reason to worry about it

Open AI’s ChatGPT start page.

OpenAI announced a big upgrade for ChatGPT a few months ago. The chatbot would be able to retain memories from your conversations with it. This happens in two ways: You can tell ChatGPT to remember specific things about yourself or let it pick up details from chats and remember them later.

The ChatGPT conversation memory feature builds on the custom instructions that OpenAI previously enabled in ChatGPT. The latter lets you instruct ChatGPT on how to answer your prompts and also offers the chatbot context about yourself.

But the new conversation memory is a much bigger upgrade and another building block towards ChatGPT becoming a personal AI assistant. I’m dreaming of a personal AI chatbot that would remember things about me to make all interactions easier.

But, just as OpenAI announced that conversation memory is rolling out widely, I have one big reason to worry about it: Privacy.

Specifically, the memory feature will not be available in two big markets: Europe and Korea. Remember that the EU is much tougher on tech companies regarding privacy. That’s why OpenAI and other companies took their time rolling out AI features in the region. And probably why Europe is not getting ChatGPT memory support just yet.

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