Memory-Support Technologies in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Cognitive Offloading, Societal Implications, and Conditions for Responsible Implementation

Research objective: This integrative review examines the impact of memory-aided technology on the encoding, storage, retrieval, and coordination of everyday activities and shared information practices: smartphone reminders, cloud storage, wearable lifelogs, clinical cognitive prostheses, and AI personal assistants, as well as the implications that exist at both the individual and institutional levels. Methodology: An integrative review was conducted by synthesizing evidence across disciplines including Cognitive Psychology, Human-Computer Interaction, Neuro-Rehabilitation, Governance of Artificial Intelligence, and Digital Rights. The data were then organized using a Taxonomy of Evidence-Informed Technology Families. Findings: Externalizing memory has been found to have numerous benefits, including decreasing cognitive load, improving performance, and increasing independence. However, there are also trade-offs associated with externalizing memory, such as the shift towards "where-to-find" encoding, the potential for altered metacognitive calibration, decreased effort, attentional costs, or dependence on the device. Societal Findings: These types of devices have also enabled coordination, continuity, and accountability; however, they also pose risks to users' privacy and consent, the use of biased algorithms, users' autonomy, and equal access to these devices. Conclusion: To responsibly deploy memory-aided technology will require designers to create user-centered and clinically grounded products, evaluate them over time to determine their effects beyond accuracy, incorporate privacy-by-design principles into the development process, create transparent and auditable pipelines for artificial intelligence systems, plan for future compatibility and continuity, provide users with training and support services, and develop regulatory frameworks and standards that protect users' rights.