AI Glossary Term

What does “Memory (Agent Memory)” mean?

Definition

Stored context an AI agent uses across steps or sessions to improve continuity.

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How Memory (Agent Memory) works

Example

A personal assistant agent saves that you prefer morning meetings and window seats. Next week it retrieves those notes when scheduling or booking travel, so you do not repeat yourself.

Why it matters

Without memory, an agent starts from scratch each time. Memory also raises privacy questions about what is stored and for how long.

Common questions

Is memory built into the model?

Usually not. It is stored outside the model, such as in a database, and fetched back into the prompt.

Can it be wrong?

Yes. Stored notes can be outdated or mistaken, so good systems let users review and delete them.

Is it the same as a context window?

The context window is the model's short-term working space. Agent memory persists beyond a single session.

AI AgentA software system that can observe, reason, and take actions to achieve a goal, often using tools and memory.TransformerA neural architecture that uses attention to model relationships across sequences in parallel.Machine Learning (ML)Methods that allow systems to learn patterns from data and improve over time.Model QuantizationReducing numeric precision of model weights to decrease memory and inference cost.Model RegistryA central catalog for versioning, approving, and tracking models across environments.MCP (Model Context Protocol)An open protocol that lets AI applications connect to external tools, data sources, and context providers in a standard way.

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