Memory and Selective Recall

Sat, 08 Aug 2026 17:14:00 +0100

The capability boundary gave the agent a defined action space and a rule for which capabilities are eligible at each step. Runtime state gave it an explicit working representation of what this run has established so far and how it reached that point. Together they govern the current execution, but neither gives information from an earlier run a controlled way to influence this one. There is a family of failures that requires exactly that.

Agents From First Principles 07: AI Agent Forgets Previous Work? Add Working, Semantic and Episodic Memory

Sat, 08 Aug 2026 17:14:00 +0100

AI Agent Forgets Previous Work? Add Working, Semantic and Episodic Memory

An agent can use the right model, call the right tools, execute the right plan, and still behave as if nothing that happened five minutes ago matters.

You see the symptoms quickly:

it re-reads files it already inspected;
it repeats research it already completed;
it asks for information the user already supplied;
it forgets why a previous approach failed;
it loses decisions made earlier in a long task;
it treats every new run as if the system has never seen the problem before;
it retrieves an old answer and treats it as current truth;
it fills the prompt with so much history that the useful information is buried.

The usual response is:

Episodic Memory on AIBussin — AI applications, systems and books

Memory and Selective Recall

Agents From First Principles 07: AI Agent Forgets Previous Work? Add Working, Semantic and Episodic Memory

AI Agent Forgets Previous Work? Add Working, Semantic and Episodic Memory