Anthropic brings memory to Claude's free plan

Source: Engadget

Memory Feature on Claude’s Free Plan

Anthropic is adding a new paid feature to Claude’s free tier: the ability to reference previous conversations when generating responses. The chatbot first gained the option to remember past interactions in August 2023, and later received compartmentalized memory capabilities in the fall 2023. Making memory free comes shortly after Anthropic introduced an easier way to import past chats from competing AI chatbots see announcement.

If you enable memory but later decide to turn it off, you can either pause the feature—preserving Claude’s stored memories for future use—or delete them entirely so they are not retained on Anthropic’s servers.

Claude’s Popularity and Ongoing Controversy

Claude recently reached the number‑one spot in the App Store’s free app charts see ranking. At the same time, Anthropic is involved in a high‑stakes dispute with the U.S. government over AI safeguards. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth labeled the company a “supply chain risk” after Anthropic refused to sign a contract that would allow the Pentagon to use its models for mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons. Anthropic has vowed to challenge the designation, and the outcome remains uncertain.