One of the most useful features of ChatGPT is that it can store information in its long-term memory. You can use this feature to store lists of your favorite books, movies, TV shows, and music, and leverage this information to get personalized recommendations.
Using the Memory Feature in ChatGPT
ChatGPT can remember key information from your chats. This information can then be used to inform responses to any future conversations that you might have with ChatGPT.
For example, if you tell ChatGPT that you have a cat, it will remember this information. If you later ask ChatGPT for a checklist of things to do before going on vacation, ChatGPT might use this information to remind you to get someone to take care of your cat, for example. Over time, ChatGPT can build up a more accurate picture of your preferences and habits.
This is very useful when it comes to getting recommendations. You can use the memory feature to get ChatGPT to remember some of your favorite books, movies, TV shows, or music. The chatbot can then use this information to provide recommendations that are similar to the things you already like. The results can be surprisingly impressive.
Memory in ChatGPT was originally limited to paid accounts, but since September 2024, memory has been available for all ChatGPT accounts, including ChatGPT Free.
How to Use ChatGPT for Personalized Book Recommendations
The first thing you need to do to get personalized book recommendations from ChatGPT is feed it a list of books you love. These will be added to ChatGPT’s memory, and it can use this information to suggest books similar to the ones you already love.
It’s possible to take a photo of a pile of books and have ChatGPT extract the names and authors, although this isn’t always completely accurate. Your best bet is to type out the list of your favorite books. You can do this on your phone, but if you want to enter a reasonable number of books, it’s easier to type using a laptop or desktop with the ChatGPT desktop app or website.
To ensure that ChatGPT adds your list of books to its memory, enter a prompt such as “Remember that these are my favorite books.” ChatGPT will confirm that it will add the list of books to its memory. You can then type out a list of your favorite books; the more books you enter, the more personalized the recommendations will be, but I found that starting with ten books gave me very good results.
Once the books have been added to ChatGPT’s memory, you can ask ChatGPT for a book recommendation based on your favorites. You can do this at any time, in any chat, as ChatGPT’s memory is available across chats.
If ChatGPT recommends any books you’ve already read and enjoyed, which I find happens often, you can ask it to add those books to your list of favorites, and its memory will update to include the new books.
You can refine your recommendations in almost any way you can think of. For example, you could ask for recently published books, books from a specific year, or books that have won awards, and ChatGPT will change its recommendations accordingly.
I’ve been genuinely impressed with the results of ChatGPT’s personalized recommendations. On the whole, any books that it’s suggested that I’ve already read have been ones I’ve really loved. The occasional suggestion that I haven’t enjoyed I told ChatGPT about and this was added to its memory too. Of the suggestions that I haven’t read, all the ones I have tried so far I have thoroughly enjoyed.
How to Use ChatGPT for Personalized Movie Recommendations
You can use the same method to get personalized recommendations for movies. All you need to do is provide ChatGPT with a list of some of your favorite movies and add these to its memory. You can then ask for recommendations from ChatGPT based on that list.
Tell ChatGPT that you’re going to provide a list of your favorite movies that you want it to add to its memory. Add your list of films; the first time I did this I added ten movies. Once the memory is updated, you can ask ChatGPT for recommendations.
The first time I tried this, all ten recommendations were films I had already seen and enjoyed. ChatGPT then added these to its memory, meaning that my list had doubled without any extra effort on my part. ChatGPT could then provide even more accurate recommendations.
You can narrow down the results by giving ChatGPT a more specific prompt. For example, you can ask for movies from the 1980s, or featuring a specific actor, or in a specific genre, or that have won awards. ChatGPT will fine-tune its recommendations to meet your criteria.
The results using this method are generally excellent. All the suggestions that I’ve watched to date have been well worth viewing.
How to Use ChatGPT for Personalized TV Recommendations
If you’re looking for your next box set to binge-watch, ChatGPT can help. Just as with books and movies, all you need to do is provide a list of shows that you’ve enjoyed. Once ChatGPT has added this list to its memory, it can provide personalized recommendations based on those shows.
I asked ChatGPT to add ten of my favorite shows to its memory and then asked for recommendations. The suggestions were excellent, with several shows that I’d seen and loved, as well as some shows that I’d not yet seen. So far, all the recommended shows I’ve watched have been a perfect fit.
You can get more specific with your prompts to narrow down the recommendations. For example, you can ask for recommendations for shows that are in a specific genre or feature specific actors. You can ask for recommendations for shows that are currently on Netflix, and you can even provide a list of all of your streaming services and ask for recommendations for shows that are available on any of those services.
How to Use ChatGPT for Personalized Music Recommendations
The same trick works equally well for personalized music recommendations. All you need to do is tell ChatGPT to remember a list of some of your favorite artists or albums, and then you can get personalized recommendations based on those artists or albums.
I added ten artists to ChatGPT’s memory and then asked for some recommendations. The first results were broken down almost on an artist-by-artist basis and included a lot of recommendations for artists that I know and love. I then asked ChatGPT to recommend music based on all the artists combined, and only a few of the results were artists I knew well.
I have been working my way through the other recommendations and have discovered some incredible music that I wouldn’t have listened to otherwise.
If you’re looking for something more specific, you can refine your search by asking for a specific genre, music from a certain decade, lesser-known gems, and more. If you like a recommendation, add it to your list and your personalized results will become even more accurate.
ChatGPT’s memory feature is a simple but highly effective way to get personalized recommendations for books, movies, TV shows, and music. Since the memories are stored indefinitely, all you need to do the next time you need a recommendation is ask ChatGPT and your favorite content will be used to give you recommendations tailored just for you.
