Anthropic's Claude and Cowork will share memories about you now — ZDNet

RESOLVING THE LEDGER

Today, Anthropic announced the merger of the memory systems for Claude chat and Claude Cowork.

"Starting today, the memory you use in chat is the same as in Claude Cowork. Now, wherever you work with Claude, it starts from what it already knows about you," said Anthropic.

Memory is now two-way. What you do in Claude chat is remembered by Claude Cowork. What you do in Cowork is remembered in chat. It seems that what happens in Claude Code still stays in Claude Code. The company made no mention of Claude Code whatsoever in the announcement. When I asked, I was told this update is "focused on Claude Cowork and chat."

Progress in implementing AI systems and services has been moving forward at warp speed, which some have taken to calling "AI speed." One of the side effects of this rapid pace of innovation is that experiments have turned into projects and then into products, often without the benefit of an end-to-end product plan.

As a result, we've been seeing capabilities mirrored across products but not necessarily coordinated between them. Features appear in one implementation but mysteriously vanish in the next (ChatGPT desktop, I'm looking at you ).

We're also starting to see the consolidation of features. This can be best seen in the trend, on the part of both OpenAI and Anthropic, to turn their individual desktop app offerings into "super apps," apps that contain the features of more than one previously individual desktop app.

Also: I used Claude Code to vibe code a Mac app in 8 hours, but it was more work than magic

Now, we're seeing another consolidation. Up until now, the memory of chat sessions you had with Claude as a chatbot was locked into the chatbot. The memory of sessions you've had with Claude Cowork was locked into Cowork.

Anthropic described this feature this way: "Cowork now has memory, and it's the same one you use in chat." It also said: "The context you've built up across months of conversations…is there the moment you hand Cowork a task, and what comes up in Cowork carries back to chat."

This implies that Claude's existing memory of your conversations will be available to Cowork, not just conversations that you start going forward. The company gives an example that supports this idea of preexisting knowledge:

"Ask Cowork to draft an update for your manager, and it already knows who that is and how she likes updates written. Brainstorm the agenda in chat for a conference you're organizing; when Cowork builds the budget and logistics doc, it knows the headcount, the city, and the speakers. Explain once in chat how your team defines its metrics, and every quarterly business review deck Cowork builds after that uses them, with no rebriefing."

Also: 75% of developers I surveyed prefer Claude Code - here's why they choose it over Codex

One interesting operational change is how Claude adds topics to memory. They are now added to memory as you chat. Previously, Claude used to summarize conversations after they ended. This is dynamic. You don't have to tell Claude to "remember this" for it to remember.

This update includes a number of safety and quality-of-life improvements to memory as well. You can pause or reset memory at any time. That means nobody needs to know about your unhealthy fascination with British cozy mysteries or 1980s hair bands.

In all seriousness, Claude also has fairly deep controls over sensitive topics. According to Anthropic, "By default, Claude does not store topics related to personal or sensitive subject matter, like your health, race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, politics, gender identity, and other similar areas."

That said, you might want Claude to know about topics some consider sensitive. Anthropic's example was that you might want Claude to remember you have a gluten allergy so it takes that into account when suggesting recipes.

If you've granted Claude permission to save sensitive topics, Claude will display a notice. On one hand, that's helpful, so you know information is being recorded. But if you're struggling with something and just want some help, I'm not sure getting a warning about it every time you want to discuss it will be conducive to increasing your internal peace.

Also: Claude Code vs. Codex: Why I use both and how to choose one (if you must)

Anthropic lists a number of topics that it will not store, even if you allow sensitive topics to be stored. These include sensitive identification numbers, criminal history, immigration status, or anything that violates Anthropic's acceptable use policy.

These memory features are available in all tiers of chat and Cowork. Anthropic said, "Memory is on by default on Free, Pro and Max plans across web, desktop, and mobile." However, saving sensitive topics is off by default.

Enterprise and Teams tier users are a bit different. Both the memory features and the sensitive topics features are "off for organizations by default and subject to eligibility."

Also: How to keep your conversations with ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot or Claude as private as possible

Controls for the memory features are available directly from the Settings menu in the new Memory section. To control whether Claude keeps track of your chat memories, toggle "Generate memory from chats" on or off. To control sensitive memory retention, toggle "Include sensitive topics in memory" on or off.

You can also go back and edit your saved memories. Claude stores a list of files under Topics in the Memory settings area. You can read, edit, or delete them. They apply globally. The example Anthropic used was that if you correct your company's "old name," then every conversation afterward will know the new name.

I have to tell you, I am seriously conflicted about this. But then again, I'm seriously conflicted about the whole AI thing.

Also: Claude's Record-a-Skill cut my research from hours to 30 minutes - but the magic has limits

On one hand, there is incredible value to be derived from using gener...

Anthropic's Claude and Cowork will share memories about you now — ZDNet | AIPROPX