Over time
The same user comes back, and the system either accumulates useful understanding of them or makes them repeat themselves forever.
Memory that is invisible is indistinguishable from surveillance; memory the user must maintain is a chore. What people need is a place to see what the system believes about them, and to correct or delete it.
4 patterns for this moment
Each one is a different way to resolve the tradeoff above.
A browsable store of remembered facts and preferences, each editable and deletable.
A durable rule captured from a correction: never do that again, always use this term.
Controls for temporary context, session-only mode, and automatic expiry of stale memory.
When the system uses memory, it says which memory — turning surprise into confirmation.
Audit checklist for this moment
Walk one flow through these questions. Ticks are saved in this browser.