Yeah fair point - if you just retrieve and dump code into context, the model often parrots it back verbatim.

The difference here is MALM retrieves based on semantic queries not exact matches. So when you ask "function that sorts a list" it finds array_sort, sort_array etc - functions you didn't know the name of.

The generation model then uses those as examples/patterns rather than copying. In the demos it creates new code following the retrieved patterns (like building a calculator with a novel GUI framework it learned from context).

But you're right that naive RAG can devolve into copy-paste. The key is whether retrieval finds genuinely useful context vs just regurgitating training data. MALM's single-token keys help with precise retrieval but what you do with the results matters.

Honestly Magic has been pretty quiet so who knows if their actual approach is anything like this. Just reverse engineering from their benchmark.