An agent that remembers a customer's preferences feels helpful. An agent that remembers everything forever, visible to anyone, is a liability. Treat memory as data with an owner, a purpose and a lifetime.
Types of memory
- Working memory — the current task's context; discarded when the task ends.
- Session memory — carries a conversation across steps or days.
- Long-term memory — stable facts and preferences, stored deliberately and attributable to a source.
Design rules
- Store facts, not transcripts — short, checkable statements are easier to correct and delete.
- Record where each memory came from and when.
- Scope memory by user and permission, so one person's information never appears in another's session.
- Let people see and delete what is remembered about them.
- Set expiry — memories not used or reconfirmed lapse.
Wrong memories are worse than none: an agent that confidently acts on stale information is hard to catch. Build correction into the design.