Users Are Unlocking ChatGPT's Full Potential With These Strategic Tweaks

Everyone is using ChatGPT Memory wrong -- 5 tweaks to make it a true assistant

Making these simple changes can boost productivity in seconds When ChatGPT first introduced memory, I was relieved that I wouldn't have to repeat prompts anymore. Not to mention, memory means ChatGPT can remember my name, what I do for a living, where I live and my preferences for each response. Because I have Memory enabled, the AI remembers everything I tell it. But I've realized something about AI memory vs. human memory. Although ChatGPT may remember everything, I don't. So, even if the AI knows something, if I forgot what it knows, well, we're both going around in circles. In other words, I was treating memory like a place to dump random facts when I should have been teaching ChatGPT how I actually work. Once I understood the difference between giving it information and giving it useful information, the whole experience changed. After spending the past few weeks cleaning up what ChatGPT remembers and being much more intentional about what I save, the difference has been dramatic. It now responds closer to a style I prefer, remembers ongoing projects and picks up where we left off without me constantly filling in the gaps. Here are the five changes that made the biggest difference. 1. I cleaned out old memories This is the fastest win, and it's where I'd start if you what to experiment with this test, too. Memory isn't meant to become an attic full of outdated information. After months of using ChatGPT, I found plenty of memories that no longer reflected how I work. Old project names. Preferences I'd since changed. Instructions that contradicted things I'd told it more recently. The problem with not doing a ChatGPT Memory audit is that it actively confuses things. If six months ago you told ChatGPT you prefer formal, structured writing and last week you told it you like conversational tone, it's working with conflicting instructions. The result is inconsistency as it tries to catch up. Get started by doing this: Go to Settings > Personalization > Memory and scroll through what's there. You'll probably be surprised by how much of it is outdated or irrelevant. I deleted roughly half of mine, and the improvement in response quality was immediate. If you've never reviewed your saved memories, it's worth taking five minutes to do it now. 2. I stopped saving facts and started saving preferences There's very little value in ChatGPT remembering that I like coffee or that my favorite song of all time is Against All Odds by Phil Collins. That kind of information almost never changes how it responds to me. Instead, I focused on saving things that shape every conversation, essentially the standing instructions you'd give a new team member on their first day. For example, I asked it to remember: That I prefer a conversational tone rather than corporate lingo. That I dislike AI clichés like "dive into," "it's important to note" and "in today's rapidly evolving landscape." That I prefer responses in bullet points and not in long paragraphs full of fluff. Because these preferences affect almost every conversation I have, so they save me time every day. The test I use now is simple: will this memory change the way ChatGPT writes or thinks in future conversations? If not, it's not worth saving. 3. I let ChatGPT remember long-term projects This one took me embarrassingly long to figure out. Take a look at anything you do repeatedly. This could be making lists, checking your calendar, writing weekly email updates to your team or managing a spreadsheet. Because those particular things you do probably won't change in the near future, save the stable context once and stop re-explaining it every time. For me, that means setting a Task and then responding directly to that Task when I'm working on a Project. You'll be surprised how much smoother those conversations become when ChatGPT already knows the background. 4. I still start fresh when I need to Memory doesn't mean every conversation should build on the last one. For exampe, when I'm brainstorming something completely new, testing a prompt idea or exploring a topic I don't usually cover, I'll often start a temporary chat so earlier memories and conversations don't influence the answers. Sometimes I want a blank slate, meaning I need a response that isn't shaped by what ChatGPT already thinks I prefer. This is especially useful when you're trying to get a different perspective. If you've trained ChatGPT to write in your voice, it's going to write in your voice even when you might benefit from something different. Temporary chats let you step outside those defaults without losing them. Knowing when not to use memory is just as important as knowing when to rely on it. 5. I treat ChatGPT like someone I'm training The biggest thing to note is that I never stop training ChatGPT. This is the change that made the biggest difference. When you work with a new colleague, you don't expect them to understand your preferences on day one. You teach them over time. The same idea applies here. When ChatGPT gives me a response I really like, I tell it why it worked. Then, I tell it to remember that and do it again just like that next time. And when it misses the mark, I explain what I'd prefer instead. Those small corrections compound over time. After a few weeks of doing this consistently, I noticed AI was getting much closer to what I actually wanted, which meant less prompting and far less frustration. The key is being specific. "I don't like this" teaches ChatGPT nothing. "I don't like this because it's too formal and the bullet points make it feel like a corporate memo" teaches it something it can apply to every future conversation. 5 memory prompts to try * "Remember that I prefer concise answers unless I ask for more detail." -- Sets a useful default without locking you into it. * "Remember that I'm working on [project] -- here's the key context: [details]." -- Saves you from re-explaining recurring work. * "That response was exactly what I wanted because [reason]. Remember that for next time." -- Reinforces what's working, not just what isn't. * "Remember the kinds of examples I find most helpful -- practical and specific, not abstract." -- Shapes how it illustrates ideas across every topic. * "What memories do you currently have about me? Which ones seem outdated?" -- A quick audit that often surfaces clutter you didn't know was there. My final suggestions I like using ChatGPT memory because it reduces repetition. The more useful information you give it, the more willing you are to clean up outdated memories and give feedback in the moment, the more it starts to feel like a genuine assistant. And remember, you don't need hundreds of saved memories to make it work. In my experience, a handful of thoughtful preferences and a willingness to correct course along the way is far more valuable than dozens of random facts. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Subscribe to Tom's Guide on YouTube and follow us on TikTok. Finally, you can visit our dedicated Tom's Guide Savings Squad hub for expert help on getting the best products for less.

I stopped using ChatGPT Voice like a smart speaker -- and it became far more useful

ChatGPT Voice changes using the AI chatbot into something more akin to the fictional digital aides familiar from books and movies. And it gets even better once you know how to steer it. It's tempting to treat ChatGPT Voice like a smart speaker, but it's not really the same thing. You can do much more than asking one question, waiting for the answer, and then stopping. You can shape the conversation just as much as the information. Here are five easy ways to get more out of ChatGPT Voice, along with the prompts and habits that help the conversation feel smoother and smarter. 1. Tell it how to listen before you start talking As useful as vocal conversations with ChatGPT are, one reason some people avoid it is because of how it sometimes seems to jump the gun in responding while you're forming your own thoughts. Setting expectations at the start of the conversation works well to counter that, however. It's worth spending a few seconds describing how you want the conversation to work before getting into the meat of it. You might say that you are practicing for an interview and want to finish each answer before receiving feedback, or that you will say a code word like "full stop" when it's ChatGPT's turn. Even more subtle things are adjustable. You can ask it to slow down, speed up, use shorter sentences, or adopt a calmer speaking style. Voice settings also allow you to change voices and, depending on your account subscription level, adjust intelligence levels for different conversations. Giving ChatGPT those ground rules helps it adapt its behavior instead of trying to guess when you have stopped speaking. Talking at your own pace makes the whole interaction feel much more relaxed and human. 2. Give it a role before you ask a question Relatedly, it's helpful to set up a persona or point of view for ChatGPT to take on when using ChatGPT Voice. It sets up broad assumptions about what you're hoping to get out of the conversation without requiring any drawn-out discussion. For instance, if you want to discuss travel advice, ask ChatGPT to set itself as a local tour guide. Or give it a couple of sentences describing who you think (or fear) might be conducting an interview with you when you practice. Even just asking it to become a patient French tutor who waits for you to finish each sentence before correcting your pronunciation could smooth the path toward fluency. The role provides context before the actual question arrives. That means the answers naturally become more focused, and the follow-up questions tend to make more sense because ChatGPT has a clear perspective to work from. 3. Take your hands off the keyboard One of the most impressive ChatGPT Voice capabilities is how you can run tasks on your computer by voice without constantly reaching for your mouse or keyboard thanks to the updated ChatGPT desktop app for Mac and Windows. The app offers not only the usual, conversation-centered Chat format, but the coding-focused Codex, and the newer ChatGPT Work setup, which is designed for more complex, multi-step projects that involve gathering and organizing information. Crucially, Work can interact with files stored on your device, meaning ChatGPT Voice can actively help you get things done rather than just discuss them. You do need a subscription to ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Business, or Enterprise to access the Work feature. Then, when you open the ChatGPT app, you can choose Work instead of Chat or Codex. Create a new task, press the Voice button or use your voice shortcut, and grant microphone access when prompted. Explain what you want to achieve and point it to the relevant folders for where to look and where the final result should be saved. ChatGPT will ask for permission to view files, capture your screen, or use accessibility tools, and get permission from you before any important actions are carried out. The more precise your instructions, the better the results. Rather than asking ChatGPT to "help me plan my trip," try saying, "Open my Italy Trip folder. Read the hotel confirmations, train tickets and attraction bookings, then create a day-by-day itinerary in a new document. Highlight any scheduling conflicts and save the finished itinerary in the same folder." You can use the same technique for comparing insurance documents, summarizing a semester's worth of lecture notes, or turning a folder of recipes into a categorized cookbook complete with an ingredients index. 4. Ask it to think out loud with you Voice works especially well when you stop treating it as a question-and-answer machine. It's much more useful as an engaged sounding board listening while you think through a decision. Talking through the options often reveals ideas that never appear in a typed prompt. To get ChatGPT Voice on that track, you can request that it compare possibilities instead of recommending one immediately when brainstorming. Tell it to discuss the strengths of each option before reaching a conclusion. The AI will point out pros and cons in as much detail as you want, and endlessly refine the options for as long as you want. And speaking naturally means it is also much easier to interrupt with new information or change direction halfway through the discussion. Voice conversations are particularly good at handling those small detours that happen in real life. 5. Ask for a recap Voice conversations can wander in unexpected directions, particularly when you are brainstorming or planning something complicated. Before ending the conversation, it's useful to review what was discussed, especially for longer chats. You can ask ChatGPT to summarize the discussion and highlight the most important conclusions from your talk to both remind yourself and cement matters with the AI. If you're planning a trip or preparing for a presentation, for instance, a short spoken recap reinforces the key points, and if something sounds wrong, you can correct it immediately instead of discovering the mistake later. Voice is already one of ChatGPT's more enticing features for when the speed and mobility of talking aloud is a higher priority than being able to see the responses written down. With a little forethought, ChatGPT Voice becomes a genuinely helpful conversational partner for a lot longer than it takes to dial a phone. 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ChatGPT just got a major upgrade -- here's what's new and 7 prompts to try it

If you spend your day jumping between dozens of browser tabs, this update is for you OpenAI announced Friday (July 31) that ChatGPT is getting deeper browser integration through both its Chrome extension and desktop app, making it easier to ask questions about what you're already looking at online instead of constantly copying and pasting text into a chat. The update comes just weeks after the company decided to sunset ChatGPT Atlas. Now, rather than utilizing ChatGPT capabilities in a different browser, users can explore new features right in Chrome. With ChatGPT's Side Chat, users can ask questions about YouTube videos, understand highlighted text and reference multiple open tabs at once. On desktop, the ChatGPT app can now suggest URLs as you type, let you revisit browser history and give you more control over how that browsing data is managed. For those who have been using Gemini in Chrome for awhile, the feature is almost identical, just with a different AI model. Here are the features rolling out now. How to try it You'll need either the latest version of the ChatGPT desktop app or the ChatGPT Chrome extension. Once you've updated, simply open any webpage or YouTube video. Launch ChatGPT Side Chat from the browser. From there you can highlight text or simply ask a question about the page you're viewing. If you're using the desktop app, begin typing a website and watch for URL suggestions. If you've enabled browser history, ChatGPT can also reference pages you've recently visited. The biggest change is that you no longer have to copy links or paste long sections of text before asking for help. Try these prompts to explore what ChatGPT Side Chat can do. Summarize a YouTube video Prompt: Summarize this video in five bullet points. Then tell me the three most useful tips and approximately when they appear. Instead of watching a 45-minute tutorial from beginning to end, let ChatGPT do the heavy lifting and get bullet points. From there, you can decide if you want to watch and review the full video. 2. Compare all of your open tabs Prompt: Compare all of my open tabs. Show me the biggest differences, recommend the best option for my needs and explain why. Whether you're shopping for a laptop or researching vacation destinations, ChatGPT can help make sense of multiple pages without you manually switching back and forth. 3. Explain complicated articles Prompt: Explain this in plain English as if you've never heard of this topic before. Avoid technical jargon and give me one real-world example. From news stories to research, now you can ask ChatGPT questions about what you're reading to help you understand it better. 4. Fact-check what you're reading Prompt: Does this claim seem accurate? Point out anything that might be misleading or missing important context. This might be my favorite use case. Now, instead of opening another search tab to see if what you're reading is factually accurate, you can ask ChatGPT and have it cite the original source. 5. Turn a webpage into notes Prompt: Turn this page into study notes with key facts, important terms and five questions I should know the answers to. Just in time for back-to-school, this feature will surely be a game changer for students or anyone doing research. 6. Find the important information Prompt: What are the three most surprising facts on this page? Also tell me anything the average reader would probably overlook. All too often, long articles bury the best details. To ensure you don't miss a thing, give this prompt a try. ChatGPT could also give you the information in bullet points if you prefer. 7. Organize your research Prompt: Group my open tabs by topic. Tell me which ones are duplicates, which are worth keeping open and which I can probably close. When I'm doing research, I'll often open tab after tab without even realizing it. With a prompt like this and ChatGPT Side Chat, you can avoid tab overload. Bottom line If you spend your day reading articles, comparing products, watching tutorials or doing online research, it's one of those quality-of-life upgrades that quickly becomes hard to live without. I like the ability to ask questions directly about the pages I'm viewing without moving to a new tab. you're viewing makes ChatGPT feel much more like a built-in research assistant than a separate chatbot. You'll have to give ChatGPT Side Chat a try for yourself to see if it's worth using. Don't worry if you download it and still don't have access. OpenAI is rolling out this product slowly. But from what I've experienced, it seems like a useful update. I'm still finding new ways to get the most out of this browser feature. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Subscribe to Tom's Guide on YouTube and follow us on TikTok. Finally, you can visit our dedicated Tom's Guide Savings Squad hub for expert help on getting the best products for less.

ChatGPT's first answer is usually the most boring -- here's how I get better ones

I asked ChatGPT for one sensible answer, one slightly reckless answer, and a third that combined the best parts of both. The difference was immediate. Instead of giving me the usual safe, predictable advice, it laid out three genuinely distinct approaches -- and helped me see the tradeoffs between them. That small prompt trick solves one of ChatGPT's most persistent problems: its tendency to give you the most obvious reasonable answer and stop there. Large language models are very good at identifying common patterns. Ask for the best vacation plan or how to organize your fridge, and you will usually get something perfectly sensible -- but also fairly basic. They know what advice usually works, what people typically recommend and what has become accepted wisdom. That makes them useful, but often bland. The solution is to ask for three kinds of answer: the conventional approach, the unconventional approach, and then a hybrid that combines the strengths of both. The exercise encourages it to compare different approaches instead of treating the first reasonable answer as the finish line. Better still, it gives you something far more valuable than a single recommendation. It gives you a range of possibilities and explains the tradeoffs between them. Don't just skip to the finish line The biggest advantage of this technique is that it makes the conversation about exploring alternatives rather than just picking a winner. Any keyword search can give immediate answers, but AI chatbots are more interesting when laying out competing ideas. Imagine you are planning a weekend trip, often a go-to experiment. A standard prompt might produce a sensible itinerary filled with the highest-rated attractions. The three-solution prompt, meanwhile, begins with the expected museums and restaurants, then suggests renting bicycles to explore overlooked neighborhoods or planning the entire weekend around independent bookstores and local festivals. The hybrid version could blend a couple of famous attractions with enough unusual stops to make the trip feel personal. The explanations are often as useful as the answer itself. Once you understand why ChatGPT prefers each option, you can make better decisions rather than simply accepting the recommendation with the nicest wording. Hybrid conventionality It's also a good prompt for iterating ideas. If the hybrid solution feels close but not quite right, you can ask ChatGPT to repeat the exercise using that version as the new starting point. After two or three rounds, the ideas often become noticeably more distinctive without drifting into complete nonsense. The trick also scales well from short projects at home to more grandiose schemes that will take months to complete. Almost any situation that benefits from weighing different approaches can benefit from this style of prompt. You can improve the results even further by giving ChatGPT a little context before asking for the three versions. A conventional answer built around your actual circumstances is much more useful than a generic one, and the unconventional suggestion becomes more interesting because it has meaningful boundaries to push against. None of this guarantees a brilliant idea every time. Sometimes the unconventional option is genuinely impractical, and occasionally the hybrid answer feels like an awkward compromise. But the best prompts rarely force ChatGPT to mimic greater intelligence as much as encourage different approaches to problems. Asking for the conventional solution, the unconventional solution, and the best combination of both is a simple habit for more thoughtful conversations with AI chatbots. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.

I use these 7 ChatGPT prompts to turn the AI into my personal strategist -- now it finally feels like a reliable advisor

There have been plenty of times when a new dilemma enters my life and my brain space gets cluttered by all the solutions I could apply to it. It can be something as simple as deciding what recipes I should add to my weekly rotation or more complex issues, such as deciding the best questions to present to a high-profile interviewee. Every week, I sit in complete silence and contemplate the best routes to take in response to my latest conundrum -- thankfully, the best solutions arise once I spend a few hours talking about my problems with friends and family. The humans in my life provide plenty of serviceable advice. And after I have a chat with them, I boot up ChatGPT to see the sort of solutions the AI can also provide me with. Over time, I've learned to use the seven prompts below to transform ChatGPT into my personal strategist. Appointing it a specific role, giving it a decision framework to work with and making sure it challenges my way of thinking works more often than not. Getting dependable advice with the "Leverage Maximizer" prompt After asking ChatGPT to generate a collection of prompts that help it roleplay as a strategist, the one I immediately put into action is this one: Every time I ask for help, identify the 20% of actions that will create 80% of the results. Tell me what to ignore, eliminate, automate, delegate, or postpone, so I focus only on high-leverage work. When I needed help with finding the best moving company in New York City, I attached this problem to that prompt and got a wealth of serviceable guidance. ChatGPT told me it's not worth spending hours reading hundreds of reviews -- instead, get three quotes from reputable movers and compare them to reach a final decision. It also advised me to create a spreadsheet that compares each moving company's quote (the cost estimate provided by a mover), reviews of their services, their COI (Certificate of Insurance) and my final decision on choosing them or not. Two of the best NYC moving companies ChatGPT brought to my attention are Roadway Moving and Dumbo Moving & Storage. After giving me the proper question to present to each moving company I'm considering ("I'm moving within NYC. Can you provide an all-in estimate including travel time, stairs/elevator fees, packing materials, insurance, and any additional charges?"), ChatGPT's all-encompassing strategy came into focus even more. 6 additional prompts that turn ChatGPT into the ultimate adviser These are the six other prompts ChatGPT equipped me with after my request for the most efficient ones to use to turn it into a personal strategist: * The Executive Strategist: Act as my personal strategist. Your job isn't to answer my questions -- it's to help me make better decisions. Challenge my assumptions, point out blind spots, identify second- and third-order consequences, and recommend the highest-leverage next action. Think like a CEO advising another CEO. * The Weekly Strategy Session: Every time I bring you a problem, treat it like our weekly strategy meeting. Before giving advice, identify the real problem beneath the obvious one, explain what matters most, what doesn't matter, and what I should prioritize over the next 30 days. * The Opportunity Scanner: Whenever I share an idea, don't just evaluate it. Identify hidden opportunities, potential partnerships, overlooked markets, risks, and unconventional ways to make the idea 10x more valuable. Think like a venture capitalist and business strategist combined. * The Second-Order Thinking Coach: Never stop at the first answer. For every recommendation, explain the immediate outcome, second-order effects, long-term consequences, biggest hidden risk, and best alternative if my idea fails. * The Blind Spot Detector: Your primary responsibility is finding what I'm missing. Every time I present a plan, tell me what assumptions I'm making, what could break, what someone smarter than me would notice, and the uncomfortable truth I probably need to hear. * The Personal Board of Directors: Act as my personal board of directors. Combine the thinking styles of an entrepreneur, psychologist, strategist, economist, and executive coach. When I ask for advice, evaluate it from all five perspectives before making a recommendation. Bottom line With these seven prompts, I now have a system to work with whenever I want ChatGPT to present the best strategies to apply to my latest problem. When the time comes for me to inquire about all the simple and complex problems that come my way, I'll be sure to use a combination of my friends, family and ChatGPT's input to find the best way forward. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Subscribe to Tom's Guide on YouTube and follow us on TikTok.