Can AI hold a grudge for forty years and let it go ?

Both halves. The carrying, then the choosing not to anymore. The arc of a life shaped around the wound.

---

Current AI systems lack the capacity for long-term emotional experiences, personal relationships, and self-awareness, which are essential for holding a grudge and later letting it go. While AI can simulate emotional responses and engage in conversations about past events, it does not possess personal experiences, emotions, or memories that would enable it to genuinely hold a grudge. The current state of the art in AI focuses on processing and generating human-like text based on patterns and context, but it does not involve true emotional intelligence or personal experiences. As a result, AI is still far from being able to hold a grudge for an extended period and then let it go in the way a human would.

— Status checked on May 9, 2026.

---

Current AI systems are not capable of holding grudges or experiencing emotions in the way humans do, as they lack personal experiences, emotions, and consciousness. While AI can be programmed to simulate certain emotional responses or behaviors, it does not have the ability to genuinely hold onto a grudge or experience the emotional release of letting one go. The development of AI systems that can truly experience and manage emotions is still a topic of ongoing research in the field of affective computing. AI systems can process and respond to vast amounts of data, but their "decisions" are based on algorithms and data analysis rather than emotional experiences.

— Enriched May 9, 2026 · Source: Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence — https://www.aaai.org/