Memory is Not Search: Towards Proactive, Lifelong Memory in AI

Memory is a foundational cognitive function for any artificial or biological intelligent system. Current AI approaches to long-term memory treat it as a problem largely of data storage, summarization, and search. Drawing inspiration from cognitive science and neuroscience, this position paper argues that search is insufficient for memory. Instead, memory requires distinct computational mechanisms that can proactively recall information. We analyze the specific limitations of current AI memory approaches and highlight the core requirements needed to achieve proactive, lifelong memory. Building AI systems with human-level lifelong memory will require new datasets, appropriate evaluation methods and benchmarks, and novel algorithms.