We think of our tendency to forget as a cognitive defect. When it comes to Artificial Intelligence, we could eradicate this human limitation by creating machines with infallible memories. But forgetting is in fact crucial both for smoothing out social interactions, and for the proper functioning of our memories. The same would be true of AI. Machine intelligence that never forgot would be both socially dangerous and cognitively inefficient, argues Ali Boyle.

A few months ago, I introduced myself to another philosopher only to discover that I’d met them before. We’d met at a conference, as it turned out, and had quite a long conversation over dinner. Even on being told this, I struggled to summon up the memory of our previous encounter. I remember being absolutely mortified. To make matters worse, I’ve already forgotten who this person was, so the mortification seems bound to be repeated.

All in all, I’d prefer it if I’d not forgotten and been saved the embarrassment.

Like most people, I use technology to offset my tendency to forget things. My calendar app reminds me about important birthdays. My to-do list app tells me what I need to get done each day. The timer on my phone has prevented me from burning several meals to a crisp. My apps never fail; they never forget.