Many ChatGPT users have recently been caught off guard after noticing that their chatbot “memories” have mysteriously disappeared. The memory feature, designed to personalize your ChatGPT experience, lets the AI remember facts, preferences, and ongoing projects across chats — making it feel more like a long-term assistant than a short-term chatbot.
But for a growing number of users, that long-term memory seems to have suddenly gone blank.
Users Complain of Lost Memories
Reports began surfacing on Reddit and other social media platforms over the weekend. One Redditor shared how, after saving a recipe, their entire saved memory panel vanished, showing no history at all. Another user expressed frustration at losing over a year’s worth of carefully curated memories — including notes, reminders, and preferences that had become part of their workflow.
For some, the disappearance wasn’t partial — their entire memory history was wiped clean, leaving no trace or backup.
OpenAI’s Response and the Ongoing Fix
OpenAI acknowledged the issue on its official status page, confirming there was a temporary glitch affecting the ChatGPT memory feature. The company later updated the page, stating that the issue had been resolved.
However, several users continued to report missing data even after the fix was announced. A few people found that logging out and logging back into ChatGPT helped restore their old memories, though this workaround hasn’t worked for everyone.
Quick Check: Are Your Settings Correct?
If your ChatGPT memories have disappeared, OpenAI recommends checking your personalization settings. Make sure both “Reference saved memories” and “Reference chat history” toggles are turned on. These ensure ChatGPT is allowed to save and recall your preferences between sessions.
How to Back Up Your ChatGPT Memories Manually
To stay safe from future glitches, it’s a good idea to manually back up your ChatGPT memories. Here’s how you can do it:
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Open the ChatGPT app or website.
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Go to your profile and click on “Personalization.”
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Scroll down to find the “Memories” section.
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Click on “Manage memories.”
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Copy everything ChatGPT remembers about you and paste it into a document or notepad for safekeeping.
If your memories vanish again, you can manually re-enter them. Unfortunately, OpenAI doesn’t yet allow bulk importing — so you’ll need to add them one by one using the command “Remember that…” followed by each specific detail.
It’s a tedious process, but for now, it’s the only way to restore your personalized AI experience.
The Bigger Picture
While the memory feature is still technically in beta, it has become one of ChatGPT’s most popular tools for regular users — especially those who rely on it for creative projects, business planning, or learning routines.
So, even though OpenAI says the issue is resolved, this recent glitch is a reminder that AI memories — like human ones — may not always be as permanent as we’d like.
