OpenAI’s ChatGPT is joining every other subscription service in offering users a ‘year in review’ feature this year. These are nifty little features that make the wholesale gathering and storage of your information a little more palatable by dangling something shiny in front of you at the end of the year.
If you haven’t opted in to (or opted out of) surveillance of your habits, likes, and dislikes, features like this don’t work. Whether it’s Spotify’s Wrapped or Sony’s recap of your gaming, they all rely on extensive monitoring of what you’ve been up to in the previous year. OpenAI’s version is no different; it’s just that, being brand new, it has to point this out to you.
ChatGPT will remember it for you wholesale
The function is also geographically locked, at least for now. The company says that “everyone in the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia who have [sic] reference saved memory and reference chat history turned on” will be able to access Your Year with ChatGPT.
It takes the form of stats — how many messages you exchanged with the not-so-intelligent artificial intelligence, the sort of topics ‘discussed’, your chat style, and an assigned category based on the year’s communication. Users are also provided with a personalised AI-generated image meant to sum up the year’s interactions with ChatGPT.
But, as with every other service and product that offers these summaries, you’ll need to grant OpenAI a ton of permission concerning your activity. Here’s a hint: these companies aren’t just using that access to create that handy end-of-year treat for you.
