OpenAI is giving ChatGPT’s web search a more personal layer. A newly announced feature called Memory with Search lets ChatGPT use information it remembers from earlier conversations when it rewrites a user’s prompt into a web search query.
The change was disclosed in a changelog and support pages on OpenAI’s website Thursday. It follows another recent expansion of ChatGPT memory, which added the ability to reference a user’s entire chat history.
What Memory with Search does
Memory with Search connects two parts of ChatGPT that already matter to many users: memory and web search. Memory stores details from previous conversations, while search lets ChatGPT look up information from the web when a prompt needs current or external information.
With the new feature enabled, ChatGPT can draw on those remembered details before searching. OpenAI explains that when a prompt requires a web search, ChatGPT rewrites the prompt into a search query that “may also leverage relevant information from memories” to “make the query better and more useful.”
That means the search query may become more specific than the words the user originally typed. The goal, as described by OpenAI, is not simply to search the web, but to search in a way that better reflects what ChatGPT already knows about the user.
The source gives a simple example. If ChatGPT knows from memory that a user is vegan and lives in San Francisco, a prompt such as “what are some restaurants near me that I’d like” may become the search query “good vegan restaurants, San Francisco.”
Why this changes the search experience
The practical shift is that ChatGPT may no longer treat every web search prompt as isolated. If memory is enabled, the assistant can use previous context to narrow the query before sending it to search.
That can matter most for prompts that are broad, personal, or dependent on preferences. A request for restaurants, local recommendations, or other choice-based information can become more useful if ChatGPT includes relevant context the user has already shared.
At the same time, the feature makes ChatGPT’s memory more visible in everyday use. Memory is no longer only something that can shape conversational responses. It can also influence the way ChatGPT searches the web on the user’s behalf.
Based on the source, the central mechanics are straightforward:
- ChatGPT receives a prompt that requires a web search.
- It rewrites the user’s prompt into a search query.
- When Memory with Search is enabled, that rewritten query may include relevant remembered information.
- The resulting search can be more tailored to the user’s known preferences or context.
How it fits into OpenAI’s memory push
The announcement comes shortly after OpenAI expanded ChatGPT’s memory tool with the ability to reference a user’s entire chat history. The source describes the memory tool as long-in-the-tooth, and frames the new update as part of a broader effort by OpenAI to make ChatGPT stand apart from rival chatbots.
Those rivals include Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Gemini. The source notes that Gemini also offers a memory feature, making memory one of the areas where major chatbot products are competing for user attention.
For OpenAI, Memory with Search extends the role of memory from conversation into discovery. Instead of only remembering facts that help shape a reply, ChatGPT can now use those facts to build a better search query when the web is needed.
That distinction is important. A chatbot that remembers a user’s preferences can answer with more context. A chatbot that uses those memories during search can change the information-gathering step itself.
Availability and controls
The rollout status is not fully clear from the source. Some accounts on X reported seeing Memory with Search earlier this week, but the article says it is not clear which users have access yet.
The feature appeared in ChatGPT release notes alongside o3 and o4-mini, which were added to ChatGPT on Apr 16, 2025. Tibor Blaho also pointed to the release notes on X and asked whether anyone had seen Memory with Search rolling out already.
Users who do not want ChatGPT to use memory in this way have a control available. The source says Memory with Search can be disabled by disabling Memory in the ChatGPT settings menu.
That makes the Memory setting central to the feature. If Memory is on and the feature is available, remembered details may help shape web search queries. If Memory is disabled, Memory with Search is disabled as well.
What to watch next
The most important open question is availability. OpenAI has documented the feature, and some accounts have reportedly seen it, but the source does not identify exactly which users have it.
The update also shows how quickly ChatGPT’s memory is becoming part of more of the product. Memory began as a way to preserve useful details from past conversations. With Memory with Search, those details can become part of the search process itself.
For users, the immediate takeaway is simple: ChatGPT web search may become more personalized when Memory is enabled. For anyone who prefers a less personalized experience, the relevant control is the Memory option in ChatGPT settings.