Understanding an AI agent's memory through Harry Potter

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Understanding a Squidler agent's memory through Harry Potter | Squidler<br>← BlogWe talked about why and how memory is created in the previous posts (the overview, capturing, dreaming). But illustrating what an AI agent remembers is a bit tricky, as it depends on the experiences the agent has had.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone may be one of the most known works of art of our time. So we ran it through an agent's memory, letting it dream after each chapter. Below you can see the memory build up and change over time.

beliefs held, by chapter<br>1234567891011121314151617‹›After chapter 111 live beliefs · 0 overturned · 3 merged, completed or expired<br>What changedFull storeMemories from this chapterFocusEverythingThe hunt for the StoneThe invisibility cloakHarry's scarLeaving Privet DriveThe Gringotts break-inThe house cupworld-factshabitsstates14 facts<br>The Dursleys regard Mr. Potter as a 'good-for-nothing' and consider both Potters to be 'unDursleyish.'<br>wording changes later<br>newworld-factsalience 1.00distilled from 2 episodic memories · ch. 1

The Dursleys live at number four Privet Drive.<br>wording changes later<br>newworld-factsalience 1.00distilled from 8 episodic memories · ch. 1

The Dursley family consists of Mr. Dursley (a director), his wife (thin, blonde, and unusually long-necked), and their son Dudley, who is badly behaved according to Professor McGonagall.<br>wording changes later<br>newworld-factsalience 0.95distilled from 7 episodic memories · ch. 1

Mrs. Dursley and Mrs. Potter are sisters, though Mrs. Dursley conceals this relationship by pretending she has no sister, and the two had not met for several years as of the events described.<br>wording changes later<br>newworld-factsalience 0.95distilled from 7 episodic memories · ch. 1

The Dursleys deliberately keep the Potter family at a distance to prevent Dudley from associating with the Potters' son.<br>wording changes later<br>newworld-factsalience 0.95distilled from 5 episodic memories · ch. 1

The Potters have a small son whom the Dursleys had never seen as of the events described.<br>newexpiredworld-factsalience 0.90distilled from 1 episodic memory · ch. 1–1

Mrs. Dursley conceals her relationship to Mrs. Potter, pretending she has no sister, and the two had not met for several years as of the events described.<br>→ Petunia Dursley is the sister of Lily Potter (née Evans), Harry Potter's mother, a relatio…<br>newmergedworld-factsalience 0.90distilled from 1 episodic memory · ch. 1–1

Professor McGonagall warned that Harry Potter would become famous, with books written about him.<br>wording changes later<br>newworld-factsalience 0.90distilled from 1 episodic memory · ch. 1

As of June 2026, a bundle of blankets was left on the front step of number four, Privet Drive.<br>newstatesalience 0.90distilled from 1 episodic memory · ch. 1

As of the events described, a tabby cat was stationed on Privet Drive near the Dursleys' front garden, behaving unusually — appearing to read a map or sign, and staring down Privet Drive as though waiting for something.<br>newcompletedstatesalience 0.60distilled from 2 episodic memories · ch. 1–1

The Dursleys fear that their neighbors would react negatively to the Potters.<br>newworld-factsalience 0.60distilled from 1 episodic memory · ch. 1

The Put-Outer is a silver device capable of extinguishing and restoring street lamps.<br>newworld-factsalience 0.60distilled from 2 episodic memories · ch. 1

Mr. Dursley overheard cloaked strangers in the street whispering about the Potters and their son Harry.<br>newworld-factsalience 0.60distilled from 1 episodic memory · ch. 1

Mr. Dursley wrongly believed the Potters' affairs were unlikely to involve him and Petunia Dursley.<br>newworld-factsalience 0.30distilled from 1 episodic memory · ch. 1

Move through the book to see how facts stand after each chapter. Wording and evidence are shown as they stood then, and passages quoted from the book are redacted. Click distilled from… on any belief to read the memories behind it.<br>newformed after this chapter<br>overturnedlater evidence contradicted it<br>saliencethe weight the agent gave it as it wrote it down. A scene can matter to the plot and still score low, which is most of what goes wrong here<br>merged, completed, expiredclosed without anything contradicting it, sometimes routine and sometimes how a wrong belief slips away

A few things to try. Pick "The hunt for the Stone" in the Focus menu and step through the final chapters: the agent spends most of the book with Quirrell down as a nervous man who had a bad year abroad, and you can watch that belief get overturned when the truth comes out.

It is not perfect, like how it finishes the book still convinced Slytherin won the house cup, when Dumbledore hands Gryffindor the points that take it on the very last pages. That is the nice thing about running a well-known work through the memory: you can spot the mistakes yourself.

Every belief links back to the memories it was distilled from, so click one to read them. They are the...

from episodic memory factsalience potter newworld

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