OpenAI has added a practical feature to ChatGPT: conversation branching. Now you can fork conversations from any point, exploring different directions without worrying about losing the original conversation thread.

This feature solves a real pain point. Previously, when wanting to try different angles of questioning, you either had to start a new session and lose context, or get increasingly lost in the original conversation. Now you can finally manage conversation branches just like code version control.

Someone in the comments mentioned that some basic features are still missing: favoriting specific conversations, pinning frequently used sessions, and tagging conversations. These should have been implemented long ago, especially since even WhatsApp allows pinning up to five chats. However, considering the development priorities of a free product, these features might need to wait a bit longer.

Interestingly, this feature redefines the form of conversation in a way. Human conversations have always been linear, but now AI conversations have achieved true non-linear exploration for the first time. Some jokingly wished that human conversations could have this branching feature too—though it's a bit terrifying when you think about it.

Seeing big tech companies starting to add these small features actually indicates that AI tools are entering a practicality stage. There are fewer flashy gimmicks and more improvements that solve real pain points. This might be a trend more worth paying attention to than the parameter race.

The accompanying image shows the interface for the branching feature, where you can create a new branch by long-pressing a message. It appears to be rolling out gradually, so those who don't have it yet can wait a bit longer.