ChatGPT, the viral conversational AI tool from OpenAI, has captured worldwide attention in recent months for its ability to generate surprisingly coherent and useful text on demand. Now, the company is trialing new features to make interactions even more natural and personalized. 

Key among the latest enhancements is a selective memory capability, currently being evaluated with a limited number of ChatGPT Plus subscribers. The feature allows users to specify certain preferences, contexts or details for the AI agent to retain, improving responses over time rather than starting from scratch with every exchange.

For example, a journalist could have ChatGPT memorize their beat and typical article length to save providing the same background each assignment. A social media manager could establish their brand voice and tone guidelines upfront rather than manually correcting quirks post generation. Even specifying personal hobbies and interests could lead to more organic and in-depth discussions versus generic trivia.

Selective memory represents a big step towards continuous learning and building rapport with ChatGPT beyond a one-off customer service chat or query. Early testing aims to validate whether users actually find long-term memory valuable before potentially expanding access more broadly.

Other recently debuted features further optimize the interface as well. GPTs allow spinning up alternate flavor versions of the underlying model tailored to specific topics from finance to medicine and more. User instructions provide a simple way to establish rule sets, output preferences and conduct policies from the outset.

Together, these capabilities inch ChatGPT ever closer to feeling like an intelligent personal assistant versus just raw generative text output. The same big picture risks around potential misuse and bias propagation remain at large however, spurring vigorous debate around guidelines and safeguards.

For now, OpenAI continues marching at the cutting edge of what’s possible in AI. ChatGPT racked up a staggering 100 million users in just two months, showcasing sky-high demand even with existing limitations. One can only imagine public reception if and when the quest for the perfect conversationalist sticks the landing.