The Kybernesis
Steering Brief.
Translate a commitment into system behavior. Name who remains answerable. Build in a way to hear objections, repair mistakes, and correct course.
Allow about ten minutes. Use one real decision. Bring the brief to the people affected before you act.
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See a worked example
Hypothetical decision: use AI to draft customer support replies.
Purpose: help people resolve problems sooner while preserving a fair hearing for unusual situations.
Value, behavior, test: a right to appeal means the system may draft a reply but must not close a disputed case. Test with an unresolved complaint: the case must stay open and reach a person with authority to act.
Authority: the support lead owns the trial; a person decides disputed refunds and account restrictions.
Answer back: invite customers whose situations do not fit the standard reply. Use their accounts to revise the routing rules and measure unresolved problems as well as response speed.
Interruption and repair: the support lead can pause the trial. Each handoff retains the customer’s objection, the commitment to review it, and the responsible person. A reviewer can reopen the case and correct the answer.
Feedback: after one week in a limited queue with human review, compare reopened cases and missed appeals with the intended good. Pause if a disputed case closes without review; the support lead must approve rule changes.
What human purpose should this system serve? Which value must survive pressure for speed, scale, or profit?
What may the system do, and what must it refuse? Write one concrete test that would show whether the commitment holds.
Who owns the purpose? What power may they delegate to a machine, and which decisions or exceptions require a named person?
Who carries a burden your measures might miss? How can their account change the proposal or challenge a result?
Who can pause an action, resolve an appeal, or reverse a mistake? What happens to a commitment when work passes between people and machines?
What will you compare with the intended good? Set a review date, a signal to change course, and who may revise the rules or the purpose.