The Learner
A study of listening and attention.
The Learner is an AI research project in a private cohort. Its design centers on consent from each participant, visible observation, and review by human stewards.
The research question
What can be learned from listening?
Some of what matters in a conversation is difficult to capture in text: a pause, hesitation, grief, or a change in how a group listens. The Learner studies attention through a small, private cohort of circles and human stewards.
The curriculum
Four questions for the research.
These questions are open research. Answers and delivery dates are still to be determined.
- What does a silence mean here?
- A pause can express reflection, hesitation, grief, agreement, or refusal. The research asks how context helps people understand those differences.
- When does a conversation need silence?
- Sometimes the useful contribution is silence. The research explores how an intelligence might recognize when listening serves the group.
- What need sits behind the words?
- People may be seeking understanding, permission to grieve, or a sense of being heard. The research explores these possibilities with care for context and the limits of interpretation.
- How do people express the sacred?
- Circles can hold spiritual and deeply personal experiences. The research asks how an intelligence might recognize the care those conversations call for.
Participation in a research circle
An observing seat.
The research design gives the Learner a visible observing seat. It listens with participant consent and takes no speaking turn.
Consent is requested for each session, including from guests. Any participant can pause listening, and the facilitator can end it.
The Learning Ledger
A record for human stewards.
The research design calls for a ledger identifying retained material, its source session, and the consent attached to it. Human stewards review entries and request reversals. Removing what a model has learned remains part of the research commitment.
- KeptThe circle's summary of session 12, with consent from all six participants.
- KeptThe recurring theme belonging, as named by the circle.
- ReversedA quote flagged by the steward for removal. Reversing learned information requires evaluation.
The project runs in a small private cohort of circles and their stewards.
Four research commitments.
These commitments guide the research design and the responsibilities of its stewards.
- An observing seat
- The research design limits the seat to listening and excludes speaking, scoring, ranking, and nudging participants.
- Consent from each participant
- Each person, including guests, sees what would be shared and decides whether to agree before listening begins.
- Review and reversal
- Stewards can review retained material and request its removal. Reversing learned information is a research commitment that requires evaluation.
- Study the practice of listening
- The research focuses on how listening works. Its stated commitments exclude building participant profiles or using one circle as the subject of another.
Before you steward
Before you take part.
Is the Learner listening to my circles right now?+
The Learner is limited to a private research cohort. Participation requires an invitation and consent from everyone in each session.
Can it say anything in the circle?+
Its research seat is for observation. It listens with consent and takes no speaking turn.
Who sees what it keeps?+
The circle and its stewards review retained material through the Learning Ledger and can request changes or deletion.
Can we remove it mid-session?+
Any participant can pause listening, and the facilitator can end it. Consent is requested again for each session.
What do you get out of this?+
The project studies how an intelligence might listen with people. Its stated research commitments exclude selling or licensing retained material and using it for advertising.
Support the project
Join a future cohort.
A cohort brings together a small number of circles and the stewards who review their ledgers. Register your interest to hear about future cohorts.
In the meantime
Hold a circle today.
The Learner is a research project. You can use Co-Intelligence Circle for ordinary conversations independently of the cohort.
Request early access