On Monday, Anthropic released a hotly anticipated memory function for its Claude chatbot.

In a YouTube video, the company showcased a user inquiring about previous conversations with Claude prior to their vacation. Claude efficiently searches through past chats to provide a summary for the user before asking if they’d like to continue with the ongoing project.

“Never lose track of your work again,” the company stated. “Claude now retains the memory of your past interactions, allowing for seamless project continuation, convenient reference to earlier discussions, and development of ideas without the need to restart from the beginning each time.”

The functionality is available across web, desktop, and mobile platforms, and it maintains separation between different projects and workspaces. It began rolling out today for Claude’s Max, Team, and Enterprise subscribers. Users can activate it by navigating to “Settings” in the “Profile” section and enabling “Search and reference chats.” The company also mentioned that this feature will soon be available to other plans.

However, it’s important to note that this feature doesn’t function as a persistent memory system like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Claude only accesses and refers to your previous chats upon request, and it does not compile a user profile, according to Anthropic spokesperson Ryan Donegan.

Anthropic and OpenAI have been competing fiercely in the AI industry, quickly deploying rival features such as voice modes, expanded context windows, and new subscription options, all while securing increasingly substantial funding. Just last week, OpenAI released GPT-5, and Anthropic is seeking to complete a funding round that could potentially value the company at up to $170 billion.

Memory functions are seen as a strategic approach by leading AI companies to enhance user retention and engagement on their chatbot platforms, making them more appealing and interactive for users.

Chatbots’ memory functions have been the subject of online debate in recent weeks, as ChatGPT has been both lauded and lambasted for its references to users’ past conversations, with some users controversially treating it as a therapist and others experiencing mental health struggles that some are referring to as “ChatGPT psychosis.”