CORE GUIDE
Memory authority conflict
Durable memory can be useful and still be wrong for the current decision; when remembered facts conflict with fresher or more authoritative evidence, the system needs an explicit authority and update policy.
Mental model
Memory is a cached belief with provenance and age, not timeless truth. Conflict resolution compares source authority, freshness, scope and user ownership before deciding whether to keep, override, expire or escalate a remembered fact.
Why it matters
Long-lived assistants accumulate preferences, facts and prior conclusions. Without conflict rules, old memory can override updated policy, current account state or a user's correction. The result feels personalized but becomes systematically stale. Authority-aware memory keeps continuity without letting persistence become stronger than evidence.
01
Attach provenance, freshness and scope to durable memory
Store where a memory came from, when it was last validated and what scope it applies to. At read time, compare it with current system records, retrieved sources and explicit user corrections. Prefer authoritative fresh state for operational decisions, and update or tombstone stale memory instead of merely hiding the conflict in the prompt.
02
Example: remembered shipping address conflicts with account record
An assistant remembers an address from a prior conversation, while the account system shows a recently updated address. The old memory should not win because it was personalized. The application uses the account record for the shipment, marks the remembered address stale, and may ask the user whether the new address should become the durable preference.
Common failure modes
- Treating durable memory as higher authority simply because it is persistent.
- Updating memory without keeping provenance or the reason for change.
- Leaving contradictory memories active and expecting the model to reconcile them every turn.
Engineering heuristics
- Store provenance and validation time with durable memory.
- Prefer fresh authoritative operational state over remembered conversational facts.
- Resolve conflicts by updating, expiring or escalating memory explicitly.
Takeaways
- 01Memory is a belief with lifecycle, not permanent truth.
- 02Persistence must not outrank fresher authoritative evidence.
- 03Conflict policy is necessary for reliable long-lived personalization.
Reading evidence
This records actions you actually took; it does not claim mastery, proficiency, or certification.
Used in
This Concept is reused across these canonical learning paths.
Related concepts from the Knowledge Graph
These relationships come from the canonical graph, not a separate Guide taxonomy.