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AIEM theory walkthroughStep 5 of 13: The overall model

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AI Engagement Model · interactive theory walkthrough

Step 5 of 13

The AI Engagement Model

Five connected parts describe what shapes an AI engagement, what happens within it, and what may follow.

About 20–30 minutes · 13 named steps · research detail is optional

AIEM connects five questions. **Mechanism:** why do the person, tool, task, and context have to be considered together? **Dispositions:** what tendencies does the person bring? **Principles:** what rules guide their choices? **Behaviors:** which of eight observable functions do their AI moves perform? **Outcomes:** what may the engagement strengthen or weaken?

Becoming is the return path across time. It describes how repeated engagements may change future dispositions, principles, behaviors, and outcomes. A transcript directly reveals behaviors in one episode; the other parts require other evidence.

Co-production context

Person, AI tool, task, and context jointly shape each episode.

1

Dispositions

What tendencies does the person bring?

  • Intellectual Humility
  • Internal Locus of Evaluation
  • Investment in Process
  • Tolerance for Ambiguity
  • Tinkering Disposition

2

Principles

What rules guide the person's choices?

  • Authorship
  • Productive Friction
  • Calibrated Trust
  • Dialogue
  • Voice Preservation
  • Reflection

3

Eight modes

What function is the interaction performing?

  • Oracle
  • Production Assistant
  • Tutor
  • Collaborative Problem-Solver
  • Verification Agent
  • Creative Expander
  • Critical Challenger
  • Problem Setter

4

Outcomes

What may strengthen or weaken?

  • Learning
  • Judgment
  • Agency
  • Voice
  • Flourishing*
The teaching sequence moves through five connected parts. Becoming is the return path across repeated engagements, not a sixth part. *Flourishing remains a theoretical long-run outcome.

It is a pathway, not a conveyor belt

Dispositions do not mechanically cause principles, principles do not dictate one mode, and a mode does not guarantee an outcome. Each arrow names a conditional relationship that can be strengthened, interrupted, or reversed by the task and context. The diagram is a theory to test, not a scoring formula.

Quick check

What does the pathway claim about one AI conversation?

The next four steps add detail to this same diagram: Dispositions, Principles, the eight modes, and Outcomes.