Memory and retrieval

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Start with plain-language explanations. Switch levels at any time.

Beginner explanation

An agent can use saved information, but it does not necessarily remember every conversation. Short-term context is what it can currently read. Long-term records must be stored and retrieved deliberately, with their source and date.

Intermediate explanation

Retrieval selects relevant stored material to include in the current context. Similar wording does not guarantee relevance or truth. Keep authoritative records separate from summaries and temporary search indexes; stale summaries should not silently replace current decisions.

Advanced explanation

Design retrieval with access filtering before results reach the model, provenance, version checks and deletion propagation. Evaluate retrieval recall and answer faithfulness separately. A correct answer based on an unauthorized document is still a system failure.

PUT IT IN CONTEXT

A worked example

A summary says a meeting is Tuesday, but the latest approved calendar entry says Thursday. The agent should cite the current entry and flag the disagreement rather than merge both dates into an invented compromise.

TRY IT YOURSELF

Practice the idea

Create a memory record for a fictional project deadline. Include its source, date, audience and a condition that would make it stale.

Your working notes (not saved or sent)

Reveal the answer guide

Example: “Draft due 12 November; approved project brief version 3; recorded 23 October; project team only; superseded by a later approved brief.” Preserve the earlier record as history rather than treating both as current.

Go further: advanced challenge

Plan a test in which a user loses document access after the document has been indexed. Explain what must happen to cached retrieval results.

An open-ended discussion task. Explain your assumptions and evidence; there may be more than one defensible answer.

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