ChatGPT Just Quietly Released “Memory with Search” – Here’s What You Need to Know

TL;DR – What You Need to Know:

• ChatGPT’s new “Memory with Search” rewrites your prompts using saved memories for more personalised search results.
• Memory includes your saved preferences and chat history, and is still rolling out across users.
• Brands must prepare for AI-driven personalisation, as user-specific search results could impact visibility and SEO.

ChatGPT Just Quietly Released “Memory with Search” – Here’s What You Need to Know

OpenAI has quietly rolled out a major new update to ChatGPT: Memory with Search.
This feature allows ChatGPT to rewrite your prompts for online searches, using insights from your saved memories and past conversations to deliver more personalised, useful results.

It marks another step toward deeply personalised AI search experiences — and could have important implications for how brands appear in AI-generated answers.

What is “Memory with Search”?

According to OpenAI, Memory with Search means that if you have ‘Memory’ enabled, ChatGPT can tap into relevant details from your saved memories when turning your prompt into a search query.

In simple terms:
If you’ve told ChatGPT that you’re vegan and live in San Francisco, and then you ask it for “restaurants near me that I’d like,” ChatGPT could automatically refine your search into “good vegan restaurants San Francisco.”

The feature was quietly added via an update to ChatGPT’s changelog, but OpenAI’s Search page offers a little more context:

“When ChatGPT rewrites your prompt into a search query, it may also leverage relevant information from memories to make the query better and more useful.”

What Exactly is ChatGPT Memory?

OpenAI officially announced the launch of ChatGPT Memory on 11 April 2025.
It includes two key components:

• Saved Memories: Details you explicitly ask ChatGPT to remember (e.g., your preferences, interests, facts about yourself).
• Chat History Insights: Information ChatGPT infers from your past conversations to improve future interactions.

Access to full Memory features is still being rolled out progressively to users worldwide.

Why Should You Care?

ChatGPT’s ability to personalise search results using Memory signals a major evolution in how AI understands and responds to users.

For brands, businesses, and marketers, this raises important questions:

• Visibility: If AI tailors search results based on individual memories, will your brand still be visible to the right people?
• Context: Content and SEO strategies may need to adapt to more personalised, nuanced queries.
• Opportunities: Brands that better align with personal preferences (and can anticipate AI memory-driven prompts) may find new ways to connect with customers.

In short: Personalisation isn’t just a feature. It’s becoming the foundation of AI search.

Can You Opt Out of Memory?

Yes. If you prefer not to have ChatGPT use your memories during searches, you can easily disable it:

• Go to Settings → Personalization → Memory
• Turn off the Reference saved memories slider.

You can also delete individual memories if you want finer control over what ChatGPT remembers.

Final Thoughts

Memory with Search might seem like a small update on the surface, but it’s a powerful glimpse into the future of AI personalisation.
As ChatGPT and other AI systems evolve, understanding how personalisation works — and how it impacts search, visibility, and engagement — will become increasingly crucial.

What do YOU think?

If AI starts remembering everything about you to shape what you see — who’s really in control of your search results? Let us know in the comments below.

For now, it’s clear:
AI isn’t just answering your questions anymore.
It’s starting to remember who you are — and search with you in mind.

You may also like:

• Benefits and drawbacks of ChatGPT’s long-term memory
• Maximising Memories: Google’s AI-Powered Ask Photos Feature
• You can read the full release note on ChatGPT.com by tapping here.