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Shakiran Nannyombi
Shakiran Nannyombi

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My AI Was Smart… But Useless

I built an AI that generates daily briefings from emails, calendars, Notion, and social media.

It worked. It was fast. It was accurate.

But it had one fatal flaw:

It forgot everything.

Every session = reset.
Every user = stranger.

No memory. No context. No continuity.

Then I Fixed It

I discovered Backboard.io after an Auth0 Hackathon on Devpost, and later explored it deeper during MLH Global Hack Week: API Week 2026.

That’s when it clicked:

My AI didn’t need to be smarter. It needed memory.

What Changed Instantly

After adding memory:

  • My AI remembers user preferences
  • Conversations actually continue
  • Outputs feel personal, not generic

It stopped feeling like a chatbot and started feeling like an assistant.

The Real Shift

Most AI apps today are stateless. That’s the problem.

Without Memory With Memory
You repeat yourself Your AI learns
Context is lost Your AI adapts
Personalization is fake Your AI improves over time

I break down exactly how I built it here:
👉 https://shakiran.hashnode.dev/how-backboard-io-added-memory-to-my-ai-agent

🙌 Shoutout

Huge shoutout to @MLH Global API Hack Week for the sessions and community that made it easier to explore and build with tools like this in real time.

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