---
title: "Give your AI a small brain, not a library"
description: "Anyone who puts all their documents into a knowledge base for AI will see their assistant drown in it. Why a memory for AI works best as a short index that points the way."
language: en
source: https://coachsteff.live/en/klein-brein-voor-je-ai
---

# Give your AI a small brain, not a library

Last week in a workshop about agents I showed something I usually keep for another training course: the second brain that my agents use. A participant immediately asked what the difference is with a knowledge base where you put all your knowledge. Good question, because I know companies that are doing exactly that: putting their entire knowledge management into one large knowledge base, so that AI can access it everywhere. A logical thought. And exactly the mistake I made myself.

I once put everything I had written and created over the past few years into one knowledge base. Presentations, texts, documents, notes. Everything in one place, for my AI. It did not work at all. My assistant choked on it.

## Why more knowledge does not make your AI smarter

A language model works in a context window, a kind of working memory with a limited capacity. Everything you provide must go in there. If you give it a mountain of documents, it has to search through that mountain for what matters for this question. Most of it is noise, and noise crowds out what is important.

It is no different for people. A new colleague who gets a cupboard full of folders on her first day does not know more afterwards than someone who got a good tour. On the contrary. What helps is someone who says: you need to know this, and you can find the rest over there.