The retrieval pipeline is the default architecture for AI memory: embed, index, search, rerank, hope the right context makes it through. It's also a dead end. The next paradigm for AI memory is agentic. Instead of building elaborate infrastructure to compensate for what models can't do, let the model do the work. This talk covers how this approach produced a new state of the art on the most widely used long-term memory benchmark in conversational AI, why the field got stuck building workarounds, what it looks like when you stop, and where AI memory is actually heading.

AI Engineer Miami 2026 - 15 mins