OpenAI CEO Sam Altman believes ‘infinite memory’ matters more than smarter AI reasoning

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says the next major leap in artificial intelligence won’t come from better reasoning, but from AI systems that can remember users, preferences, and interactions over time.

Altman says AI memory is still in early days, but it will only get better.

For years, AI companies have been focusing on making their large language models smarter at reasoning. But according to Sam Altman, that focus may be misplaced. The OpenAI CEO says the real breakthrough will arrive when AI systems gain something closer to “infinite memory”, allowing them to remember users, preferences and past interactions over long periods of time.

In a podcast with Alex Kantrowitz, Sam Altman discussed the company’s broader strategy, touching on AI memory, infrastructure expansion, AI devices, and the long-term goal of AGI. While Altman acknowledged that ChatGPT has made significant progress over the years, he said the “real difference maker” has been the memory feature.

For those unfamiliar, ChatGPT’s Memory feature allows the AI chatbot to retain information shared across conversations, reducing the need for users to repeat the same details every time they start a new chat.

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“I think we have no conception because the human limit, like even if you have the world’s best personal assistant, they don’t, they can’t remember every word you’ve ever said in your life.” But unlike the human mind, AI may have infinite memory.

Altman added that AI memory is still in its early stages, but over time, it could evolve to “remember every detail of your entire life,” including subtle preferences and habits.

While this raises serious concerns about privacy and the risks of AI having access to such deeply personal information, Altman suggested that humans may ultimately form relationships, and even a sense of companionship with AI systems as they become more persistent and personalised.

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OpenAI has been at the forefront of the AI race for quite some time now, but the Sam Altman-led company is now facing stiff competition from Google, whose Gemini 3 has exceeded expectations.

Earlier this month, Altman declared “Code Red”, where he apparently redirected all internal resources to work on a new large language model codenamed “Garlic”.