The terminology surrounding artificial intelligence makes the underlying mechanisms seem far more complicated than they actually are. I regularly see people become paralysed by sophisticated-sounding "technology" that are fundamentally simple text operations.
We build systems that need to know things, and understanding how these models actually store and retrieve that knowledge is the only way to design architectures that do not collapse under their own weight, though I concede that trivial applications can often survive poor architectural choices for a short time.
To understand why artificial intelligence storage is important you first need to undersatnd to constraints of the context window. The context window is the strict limit on the amount of text (context) a model can process at any given moment, acting as a short-term buffer where we place instructions, retrieved documents, and conversation history. Everything within this window influences the immediate response of the model, while everything outside of it is entirely invisible.
Navigating the constraints of the context window dictates every architectural decision we make regarding artificial intelligence. When we fail to respect this boundary, we overwhelm the model with noise and degrade the quality of its output.
The Inefficiency of Trained Knowledge
Large language models possess a baseline understanding of the world baked directly into their weights. I refer to this repository as what I call "the AI God", being the static snapshot of global knowledge the model acquired during its initial training phase. While this snapshot is exceptional at understanding the slow-changing structures of human language, it is an extremely inefficient way to store factual knowledge about the current world.
I recognise that at the moment training happens fast as there is a lot of investment going into building new models at the moment, but relying on model updates to know the current time or the current head of state remains a sub-optimal strategy.
Knowledge Through Retrieval
Because we cannot rely on the inherent knowledge of the model, we use retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) to feed accurate data into the context window exactly when it is needed, acknowledging that this introduces slight latency to the response time. This process involves taking our existing documents, converting them into mathematical vectors ahead of time, and searching for matches based on intention rather than strict keyword overlap.
Vector databases are excellent for managing vast libraries of data, but I deploy them only when the document volume demands it. When dealing with smaller datasets of fewer than a thousand pages, I get away with storing vectors as regular text strings and calculating the closest match at query time, though I switch to dedicated vector databases once the search speed degrades. There is no need to waste time setting up complex vector infrastructure for a simple internal wiki.
Memory is Summary of Previous Work
The industry uses the term memory to imply a sophisticated cognitive process. In reality, memory is simply a natural language summary of past interactions that can be read by humans and machines alike. It is nothing more than a text string. When we talk about shared memory between multiple agents, we are just talking about giving those agents access to read the exact same text string.
We use memory files to maintain continuity in long-running processes or processes running over multiple instances, acknowledging that these summaries lose nuance over time as they are compressed.
Skills are Routine Descriptions
We must give these models instructions on how to execute specific tasks. We do this through what the industry call "skills", meaning natural language routine descriptions that outline exactly how a task is supposed to be executed repeatedly. Unlike memory, which records what has happened, a skill dictates what needs to happen. They contain no executable code. They are simply natural language steps written by humans and called upon by the agents.
We do not load all possible skills into the context window at once. We explicitly isolate skills to ensure the model only receives the exact routine description it needs for the task at hand, though this requires routing logic before the prompt is generated. The less information a model has to process, the better the result will be. Providing a model with fifty irrelevant routines guarantees confusion and degraded performance.
Summary of My Position
The mechanisms for storing and retrieving knowledge in artificial intelligence are practical text operations. We operate within the strict boundaries of the context window, supplementing the trained knowledge of the model with targeted retrieval, plain text memory summaries, and isolated natural language skills.
Looking ahead, I anticipate shifts in how we manage these text operations. Research into continuous learning suggests models may eventually update their factual knowledge without full retraining cycles. I'm also excited in what is call Swarm Knowledge, defining the emerging pattern where independent agents communicate to sentral hubs to exchange knowledge and experience. Until those approaches mature, I default to simple, readable text files and require a compelling argument before introducing any architectural complexity.
