Rashomon Memory: Towards Argumentation-Driven Retrieval for Multi-Perspective Agent Memory

arXiv cs.AI / 4/7/2026

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Key Points

  • The paper addresses a core challenge for long-horizon AI agents: storing and retrieving multi-perspective memories when the same events must be interpreted differently for conflicting goals.
  • It proposes “Rashomon Memory,” where separate goal-conditioned perspectives each maintain their own ontology and knowledge graph instead of forcing a single unified encoding.
  • For retrieval, perspectives generate candidate interpretations, critique each other using asymmetric domain knowledge, and use Dung’s argumentation semantics to decide which proposals to accept.
  • The method produces an “attack graph” that functions as a transparent explanation of why an interpretation was selected, what alternatives were considered, and why others were rejected.
  • A proof-of-concept suggests different retrieval behaviors (selection, composition, and conflict surfacing) can emerge from the structure of the attack graph, including a mode that surfaces genuine disagreement for decision-makers.

Abstract

AI agents operating over extended time horizons accumulate experiences that serve multiple concurrent goals, and must often maintain conflicting interpretations of the same events. A concession during a client negotiation encodes as a ``trust-building investment'' for one strategic goal and a ``contractual liability'' for another. Current memory architectures assume a single correct encoding, or at best support multiple views over unified storage. We propose Rashomon Memory: an architecture where parallel goal-conditioned agents encode experiences according to their priorities and negotiate at query time through argumentation. Each perspective maintains its own ontology and knowledge graph. At retrieval, perspectives propose interpretations, critique each other's proposals using asymmetric domain knowledge, and Dung's argumentation semantics determines which proposals survive. The resulting attack graph is itself an explanation: it records which interpretation was selected, which alternatives were considered, and on what grounds they were rejected. We present a proof-of-concept showing that retrieval modes (selection, composition, conflict surfacing) emerge from attack graph topology, and that the conflict surfacing mode, where the system reports genuine disagreement rather than forcing resolution, lets decision-makers see the underlying interpretive conflict directly.

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