This is by design, for privacy reasons, but it really hinders the technology from evolving into a true digital assistant that knows you well enough to actually help with things.
OpenAI is trying to fix this problem, and is finally adding a memory feature to ChatGPT. This will allow the bot to remember important personal details from previous conversations and apply that context to current queries, according to the engadget report.
You can actually tell ChatGPT to remember something specific, like whether your child is allergic to peanuts or how you prefer to sign emails, and this data will be automatically stored on demand and applied to future conversations and tasks.
Beyond that, the system will pick up on things over time, and the data will be stored naturally as you make queries. The goal is for the chatbot to become smarter, and more importantly, compatible with your specific needs.
Additionally, each custom GPT will have its own unique memory. OpenAI offers the Books GPT app as an example, where the bot will remember which books you've already read and what genres you like, and the GPT Store is full of unique chatbots that will take full advantage of this memory feature.
This doesn't seem very different from the way the Internet actually works, and apps store personal data, as do websites and social networks.
This data is then leveraged to create a unique user profile, which is used to develop custom algorithms.
However, there are major privacy concerns with the standard way of doing things completely transitioning to this memory feature
To that end, OpenAI says users will have control over ChatGPT memory and that the system has been trained not to automatically remember some sensitive topics, such as health data. The company says you can simply ask the bot to forget something and it will do so. There's also a Memory Management tab built into Settings for more granular adjustments, and if the whole idea scares you, just turn the feature off completely.
This is a beta service at the moment, and will be rolled out to a small number of Free and Plus ChatGPT users this week, and the company will share plans for a wider release in the future.