A few weeks ago, I noticed something strange while chatting with ChatGPT.
It was finishing my sentences, quoting my past musings and dropping references to the products I was testing. Like a clingy ex who had access to my Evernote.
At first, I thought: “Wow, this thing gets me.” Then I thought: “Wait… this thing “really” gets me?”
Turns out, ChatGPT had quietly rolled out a memory feature on April 10, 2025. I missed the memo, probably buried under a dozen emails about optimizing my morning routine and surviving late-stage capitalism.
Now, don’t get me wrong: An AI that remembers what you care about sounds like the perfect best friend. But when your chatbot starts remembering things you forgot you said, it’s a little unnerving.
Is this the beginning of an almost perfect partnership? Or the start of a very polite, well-informed surveillance state that reads your emails?
Let’s unpack what this new memory feature actually does, how it changes your relationship with AI, and why you should be just a little suspicious of a machine that remembers your dreams better than you do.
What is ChatGPT memory?
ChatGPT’s memory allows it to retain facts you’ve shared (e.g., your name, business goals, writing style, preferences) across conversations. Unlike temporary chat context, memory enables persistent personalization, meaning the AI grows more useful and tailored over time.
Also what exactly is it really doing with its new enhanced brain that is like your digital twin except now it has a perfect memory? Here are 3 key features.
- Saved Memories: Users can instruct ChatGPT to remember specific details, such as their name, preferences, or ongoing projects.
- Chat History References: ChatGPT can automatically recall information from previous interactions to enhance response relevance.
- User Control: Users have full control over the memory feature, with options to view, edit, or delete stored memories. The feature can also be disabled entirely. aigptjournal.com
But it can start to sound like a flattering clone and a cognitive silo that slows down creativity and external inspiration that can contract your universe rather than stretch your mind.
Why it matters
Having an AI companion that remembers you has positives and negatives but being aware of that is important so that you don’t get trapped in your own echo chamber.
Dictators that surround themselves with echoing sycophants that don’t dare disagree means that the fearless leader only hears what they want to hear. And the result of that normally doesn’t end well for the citizens.
With this new superpower of ChatGPT, everyone’s trying to train ChatGPT to think like them. That feels empowering until it becomes a prison.
With memory now part of ChatGPT’s toolkit, your AI can recall your goals, your tone, your fears, even your dreams. It remembers your preferences across conversations. It’s like having a digital twin.
Sounds amazing, right? Until you realize you might be building your own brown nosing lackey.
Going deeper
AI and its chatbot servants that do its bidding and our prompting, not only needs some instructions on how to use it best and also be aware of its benefits but also does need to come with a warning label.
It is a bit like nuclear power. Press button “A” and you get electricity. Push button “B” and you blow up the world.
Positives: Why memory is a game-changer
I am more an optimist at heart than a pessimist but I do like to think I have a dose of healthy skepticism in the mix. Life is not all sunshine and roses and AI does come with a dark side like all technologies. Let’s dive into the positives first.
Hyper-personalization
I noticed one of its memory superpowers is that it seemed to be writing with my writing style and preferred tone (I like to imagine that sounds a bit like Scott Galloway meets Jeremy Clarkson with a dash of humour, a touch of anti-hype with a skerrick of skepticism).
It also made reference to my recurring themes (like AI, flourishing, Ikigai and more along the theme of “Win at Business and Life in an AI world” ) that were automatically integrated into the responses.
To sum that up “The AI becomes a creative collaborator who knows your goals, not just a reactive assistant and does it with “your” voice.
Deeper reflection
I have also used the “AI Oracle” to tap the intelligence and consciousness of the uploaded wisdom and intelligence of humanity to provide the possible interpretation of dreams. Now, that has been a hoot and quite revealing.
Memory supports continuity in personal exploration and that includes fears, goals and future dreams and putting in prompts to treat it like an AI journaling assistant. So it becomes a mirror—a kind of therapeutic notebook that helps track emotional patterns over time.
Accelerated workflows
The memory also increases productivity as repetitive info doesn’t need retyping (business details, audience segments, voice preferences). Added to that is faster brainstorming and drafting with context-aware responses.
Creative & strategic amplification
The AI can suggest content formats, post structures, and stories that align with your past successes and interests. It starts to think like you—or, more accurately, think with you.
The final emotion and feeling that has started to make its silent presence known to me among the choirs positive vibes is one of being a “companion” This technology isn’t just transactional anymore. It is an AI that knows you.
When I started down this AI Chatbot road over 2 years ago I would never have imagined the AI companions with benefits would show their face.
Negatives: The cautionary side
Before I get too teary eyed and emotional we need to take a look at the dark side of the moon. Because in the shadows are some hidden reefs where the sharks are swimming.
Privacy concerns
In life we have our public side, personal side and our hidden secrets. Part of me has sort of accepted that in the digital world and social media that privacy doesn’t exist anymore despite our best efforts. And going totally off line is almost impossible.
Your stored dreams, emotions, business ideas, and identity traits are intimate data are being stored and even if secure, the idea of “memory” evokes privacy anxiety. There’s still a trust barrier with how memory is used or interpreted and the Facebook “Cambridge Analytica” event is still not a distant memory.
Echo chamber risk
In quiet moments, I sometimes sense that there is a bigger world beyond my own thinking. I know if I could break the bonds and chains of the cultural, educational, religious boundaries that were and are my world I could see and experience and live a bigger life.
ChatGPT’s AI memory might reinforce your existing worldview, preferences, or biases—leading to creative stagnation or reduced critical feedback. If not intentionally disrupted, you might stop exploring new styles or ideas.
Dependence & emotional attachment
As the AI becomes more aligned with your inner life, it could create emotional dependency or blur boundaries—especially for those using it for self-reflection or companionship. It’s powerful, but it’s still not human. That distinction could fade for some users.
One question worth answering here is this. “How would you feel if you lost your smart phone and lost access to all your photos and recorded conversations?” As we start to rely on AI more as our ideation and creating partner and co-creator then the addiction to our technology will increase. We are co-evolving with our technology. We are changing technology and it is changing us.
Shifting the role of human memory
My memory is an imperfect machine and aging isn’t helping and being over 50 sucks. My brother has a memory like an elephant. But I don’t have that superpower and recalling facts and figures during an exam to write that A+ essay was an exercise in memorization techniques including endless repetition. AI doesn’t have that problem.
Remembering people’s names is one thing but being able to hold our memories for longer helps us connect the dots better and adds to creativity and innovation. Offloading more cognitive and emotional tracking to AI may reduce our own memory practices (journaling, reflecting, remembering struggles and wins). This raises philosophical questions about how we evolve with memory-enhanced machines.
I used to be great at mental arithmetic. Now I have a calculator. Maybe it is all just part of human evolution.
The traps of AI personalization
We love being understood. We crave relevance. But when your AI remembers too well (without challenge) it stops being a tool for growth and just a thought aquarium.
It becomes a mirror. And mirrors don’t push back. Personalized AI that only confirms what you believe might save time but it can also cost you insight.
Social media already tailors our feeds to what we like. Now, AI tailors our thinking.
The more it learns about you, the more likely it is to reinforce what you already believe. That’s not intelligence. That’s complacency.
Breaking the loop with better prompts
ChatGPT’s memory makes it smarter, but unless you ask better questions, it may just make you more stuck.
So…
How can you train and prompt AI to question your assumptions instead of just repeating them back to you? Why not use prompts that invite disagreement and contradiction?
Here are the prompts I use to break out of the loop where ChatGPT just reflects my own thinking back at me:
- “What’s the opposite of this idea and why might it be true?”
- “Play devil’s advocate: What would someone strongly opposed to this say?”
- “What assumptions am I making here that could be wrong?”
- “What’s a counterexample that breaks this pattern?”
- “What would a philosopher or historian say about this topic?”
These questions force AI to stop mirroring and start sparring.
Use AI as a sparring partner, not a mirror
Want to evolve your thinking? Treat AI like a Socratic sparring partner.
- Don’t just prompt for agreement
- Prompt for friction
- Prompt for surprise
- Prompt for contradiction.
Every week, I run what I call a “thought gym.” I throw my best ideas at AI and ask it to destroy them.
Then, I rebuild on top of ideas that are an expanded universe and not my own thought bubbles
The Future belongs to better questioners
In a world of infinite answers, the power belongs to those who ask quality questions. Anyone can automate output. But not everyone knows how to stretch their own mind.
Memory doesn’t make AI dangerous.
Stagnant questions do.
Final thoughts
More than smart AI, we need bold humans. We need to uncover what we don’t know and not just hear a reflection of what we already believe.
So next time you talk to ChatGPT, try this: “What might I be missing?” It’s the most powerful prompt in the world.
You should train AI to challenge you. You should use ChatGPT not just to sound like you but to grow beyond you.
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* This article was originally published here
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