Stop Repeating Yourself: AI Assistants That Remember Are Here

“I've also prepared a safety briefing for you to entirely ignore.” — JARVIS, Iron Man

One of my favorite sci‑fi characters is JARVIS from Iron Man, a personalized AI assistant. JARVIS was incredibly useful (and funny) because of persistent memory. It remembered what Tony Stark liked and didn’t like, needed and didn’t need. And frequently, what Stark didn’t know to ask.

In practical use, I find “memory” to be perhaps the most useful “AI” feature.

ChatGPT has had memory for several months now. You can add things to memory (just tell it to do so). Likewise, you can delete things from memory. And now, Google and Anthropic are adding to match ChatGPT.

What it is:

• ChatGPT: Long‑term memory across sessions; add/delete anytime.

• Google: Gemini “Saved info” and ecosystem‑level memory (Vertex “Memory Bank”).

• Anthropic: Claude’s opt‑in memory entering beta for power users/developers.

Why it matters:

When you use AI models with memory, they’re instantly more useful. Less repetition, more continuity. This was one of the reasons I was very bullish on Microsoft's AI roadmap with the addition of Mustafa Suleyman. Of course, Suleyman is former co-founder DeepMind (now Google DeepMind). But more pertinent, he founded Inflection AI, creators of Pi—one of the first LLMs with persistent memory. For me, conversations with Pi were the most interesting I’ve had with any LLM.

Like JARVIS, Pi just knew.

Imagine this across all your apps. AI as the operating system and interface. Memory, therefore, is now a design principle, not a bonus feature.

Risks and controls:

But what about privacy and “creepy” over‑collection, memory poisoning, false recall, unclear data governance, and other risks? With the large players you do have control.

• Claude: an opt‑in, consent‑first approach.

• ChatGPT: more implicit; you can add/delete memories.

• Gemini: adjust memory preferences in Saved info.

My take:

• Use this feature for compounding work (like writing style).

• Go fresh for sensitive topics or when you want zero carryover.

• Mix and match when you’re doing ad‑hoc research.

Persistent long‑term memory creates AI hyper‑personalization. There’s no doubt more users will find it irreplaceable. As Mustafa Suleyman put it, “memory is an inflection point.”

The road ahead is context‑native assistants with explainable recall, model‑routing without breaking memory, and deep workflow integration so outputs land where work happens.

And ultimately, some version of doctor‑patient privilege for conversations with your AI.

Until then, use this feature to your benefit. Don’t repeat yourself. "Remember" strategically. And, ship faster.

— Ram Srinivasan MIT Alum | Author, The Conscious Machine | Global AI Adoption Leader.

Published in Business Insider, Harvard Business Review, MIT Viewpoints, Work Design

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Disclaimer:

Ram Srinivasan currently serves as an Innovation Strategist and Transformation Leader, authoring groundbreaking works including "The Conscious Machine" and the upcoming "The Exponential Human."

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