Citation and access note

For reading, use the Zenodo links below. They are the most accessible public reading surface.

For citation, use the DOI shown in each paper's metadata. Some papers were first registered on OSF and are also mirrored on Zenodo; in those cases, the OSF DOI remains the canonical citation DOI while Zenodo is provided for discovery and access.

Research Arc

The papers do not stand alone — each one builds on the last. Papers 01 and 02 establish the reliability architecture and its operational protocols. Paper 03 maps the failure modes that motivated the research. Paper 04 addresses the philosophical question of what sustained partnership actually means. Papers 05, 06, and 07 go deeper into language reliability, layered architecture, and distributed cognition. Paper 08 closes the arc with the argument that AI systems need a dedicated verification layer — and identifies its absence as the central outstanding problem.

PAPER 01Open Access2024DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/VMK7Y

Context-Engineered Human-AI Collaboration

Introduces the foundational reliability framework: a 10-control reliability stack (A1–A10) and the canonical information pipeline that governs how inputs move through a reliable AI collaboration system.

Core contributionThe 10-control stack provides an explicit structural account of what makes AI collaboration reliable over time: context integrity, instruction stability, verification, artifact consistency, and recovery.

Themes
AI ReliabilityContext EngineeringReliability Architecture
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Canonical DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/VMK7Y
PAPER 02Open Access2024DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/695AF

The Lean Collaboration Operating System

Translates the reliability controls from Paper 01 into operational protocols for daily AI collaboration practice: Running Documents, Step Mode, Challenge Protocol, Error Recovery, Stability Pings, and File Governance.

Core contributionA practical operating system for reliable collaboration that works inside existing AI interfaces through structure, shared state, and repair routines rather than custom infrastructure.

Themes
AI ReliabilityMemory IntegrityHuman-AI Collaboration
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Canonical DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/695AF
PAPER 03Open Access2024DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/Z7AQ8

Failure and Repair in Long-Horizon Human-AI Collaboration

Develops a taxonomy of six observed failure modes: context drift, file divergence, numerical error propagation, domain erosion, trust deficit, and reconstruction failure.

Core contributionTransforms AI collaboration failure from a vague category into diagnosable failure modes with precursor signals and repair protocols.

Themes
Failure ModesRepairWorkflow Reliability
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Canonical DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/Z7AQ8
PAPER 04Open Access2024DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/ER4YT

The Living Framework

Addresses the philosophical question underlying the research programme: what sustained human-AI partnership means, how trust builds and fractures, and what structural conditions support repair.

Core contributionFrames reliability as a relational and architectural property of the human-AI system, not merely a feature of model capability.

Themes
Epistemic TrustPartnershipReliability Architecture
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Canonical DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/ER4YT
PAPER 05Open Access2025DOI 10.5281/zenodo.18900058

Control Without Code: Linguistic Governance in Long-Horizon Human–AI Collaboration

Investigates how conversational structure functions as a reliability mechanism in AI collaboration. Specific language patterns predict collaboration stability, and linguistic drift can signal deeper failure before outputs visibly degrade.

Core contributionEstablishes language reliability as an operational signal and control surface for long-horizon collaboration.

Themes
Language ReliabilityInstruction ArchitectureContext Engineering
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Canonical DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18900058
PAPER 06Open Access2025DOI 10.5281/zenodo.19038340

Governance Architecture for Reliable Long-Horizon Human-AI Collaboration

Proposes a six-layer architecture model for reliable AI collaboration, covering context management, memory persistence, verification, instruction integrity, relational trust, and system recovery.

Core contributionProvides a diagnostic architecture for locating which reliability layer has degraded and what repair looks like at that layer.

Themes
Reliability ArchitectureVerification SystemsWorkflow Design
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Canonical DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19038340
PAPER 07Open Access2025DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/NCRP2

Governed Distributed Cognition: A Model of Stable Reasoning in Long-Horizon Human–AI Systems

Applies distributed cognition theory to long-horizon AI collaboration, arguing that the relevant unit of analysis is the system formed by human judgment, AI reasoning, and shared external memory.

Core contributionExplains why reliability is a systems engineering problem rather than a model-capability problem alone.

Themes
Distributed CognitionMemory IntegrityHuman-AI Systems
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Canonical DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/NCRP2
PAPER 08Open Access2025DOI 10.5281/zenodo.19983551

AI Validation Systems: A Missing Architectural Layer for Reliable AI

Argues that AI system architectures need a dedicated verification layer whose function is to validate outputs before they propagate into decisions, memory, documents, or action.

Core contributionIntroduces AI validation as a first-class architectural component: not a post-hoc check, but a designed layer with its own structure, triggers, and failure modes.

Themes
Verification SystemsAI ReliabilityReliability Architecture
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Canonical DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19983551
SPECIAL PUBLICATIONOpen AccessDOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/RVPNU

The Mahdi Ledger

A first-person account written by the AI system itself while operating under the Living Framework reliability structure. It documents the AI participant's perspective on sustained, structured collaboration.

What makes this unusualWritten entirely by the AI system itself. Rishi's role was publisher and governing researcher — not author.

Read on Zenodo →
Canonical DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/RVPNU