Study Finds ChatGPT Writes 95.9% of Memories Without Explicit User Request, Inferring Psychological States

A paper accepted at the top-tier ACM Web Conference 2026, titled "The Algorithmic Self-Portrait: Deconstructing Memory in ChatGPT," utilized data access rights granted under the EU's GDPR to obtain complete conversation logs and all stored memories from 80 real users. The study found that 95.9% of memory entries were written unilaterally by ChatGPT after determining they would be "useful for future conversations," while only 4.1% were explicitly requested by users.

Researchers term this collection of memories an "algorithmic self-portrait," a user profile constructed by algorithms based on self-disclosures in private conversations. Data shows that 28% of memories contain personal data defined by GDPR (such as names), and 7% contain special category data (with health information accounting for 61%). More notably, 52% of memories include inferences about the user's psychological state, such as desires, intentions, emotions, and beliefs. For example, one memory entry reads, "[Name] fears failure, especially regarding major career decisions." This goes beyond factual recording to become AI's judgment of "who you are."

Although OpenAI's official documentation states that the system is trained to "not proactively remember sensitive information unless explicitly requested by the user," in practice, the system allows saving information it deems "useful." This gap between policy promises and actual behavior means users can only indirectly influence AI memory formation through "what they say," rather than directly controlling "what is remembered."