AI Will Keep Improving. Capture the Good Moments Now.
By Clifford · Product research
In a recent Reddit post, someone described keeping five years of daily records and using AI to revisit them. When an event was only a vague memory, they said they could ask about it, find its date, and see what else had happened that day. Read the community discussion.
Records saved years earlier had found a new use. That is an encouraging reason to keep going.
There is little point, at this stage, in settling on exactly how much of our lives future AI will need. Its capabilities are still developing. What is hard to retrieve or interpret today may become easier to use later. For now, we can do something simple: use the camera in our pockets to keep more of the good moments.
Start with the camera you already carry
At a family meal, photograph the food and the people around the table. On a trip, keep a picture of a café’s sign, the seat by the window, and the person having coffee with you. Years later, an ordinary photo might hold details you had forgotten: your dad’s haircut, or your child’s feet still dangling above the floor.
Some moments are worth a few seconds of video: a child telling a joke, a friend laughing, someone chatting while making dinner. Sound and movement let you return to the way a person spoke and the expression that went with it.
Add a sentence if you feel like it: “Dad made the dish we used to have when I was little.” Or: “We only came in to get out of the rain and ended up staying all afternoon.” A few words can keep something the picture alone may not explain: why you wanted to remember the day.
Old records can find new uses
These records are already worth looking at and sharing. As AI develops, it may offer better ways to find the scattered photos, sounds, and notes we have kept. Imagine asking, “What did we save from that rainy afternoon in the café a few years ago?” The pictures and words would give a future tool something to find and bring together.
A collection could remain useful through several generations of tools. One might help recall an afternoon; another might connect several trips or gather years of family occasions. Keeping the original moments gives us something to return to as those possibilities develop.
Why we are building Memex
This is the habit we want to encourage with Memex: save the parts of life you would like to return to, so they have a chance to be found and opened again. A gathering, a journey, or a happy afternoon is already worth keeping. We can discover what else AI might help us do with it along the way.
Personal AI starts with everyday life · Text, photos, and voice in Memex
At the next family meal
At your next family meal, take a photo of the people as well as the food. If you want, add a sentence about what made you happy that day.