  Forgetting refers to the loss or deterioration of previously acquired
information or knowledge. While the existing surveys on forgetting have
primarily focused on continual learning, forgetting is a prevalent phenomenon
observed in various other research domains within deep learning. Forgetting
manifests in research fields such as generative models due to generator shifts,
and federated learning due to heterogeneous data distributions across clients.
Addressing forgetting encompasses several challenges, including balancing the
retention of old task knowledge with fast learning of new tasks, managing task
interference with conflicting goals, and preventing privacy leakage, etc.
Moreover, most existing surveys on continual learning implicitly assume that
forgetting is always harmful. In contrast, our survey argues that forgetting is
a double-edged sword and can be beneficial and desirable in certain cases, such
as privacy-preserving scenarios. By exploring forgetting in a broader context,
we aim to present a more nuanced understanding of this phenomenon and highlight
its potential advantages. Through this comprehensive survey, we aspire to
uncover potential solutions by drawing upon ideas and approaches from various
fields that have dealt with forgetting. By examining forgetting beyond its
conventional boundaries, in future work, we hope to encourage the development
of novel strategies for mitigating, harnessing, or even embracing forgetting in
real applications. A comprehensive list of papers about forgetting in various
research fields is available at
\url{https://github.com/EnnengYang/Awesome-Forgetting-in-Deep-Learning}.
