Distributed research paper

Operant Dyad: Defining the Task-Bound Working Relationship in Human-AI Systems

Micheal Charles Preble · Independent Researcher · Revised August 27, 2026

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Abstract

This paper proposes the Operant Dyad as the configured, task-bound working relationship between one human and one functionally bounded adaptive AI system. The relationship forms through repeated correction: the human supplies goals, constraints, and defect reports; retained corrections shape later outputs; and the human inspects, accepts, rejects, or revises consequential results. Preserved human authorship is the governing condition for a healthy Operant Dyad, not a feature presumed to exist in current systems.

The paper defines Relationship State, distinguishes declared from inferred state, introduces Truxion as a proposed construct for recurring misalignment cost, and describes the Portable Operant Packet as a proposed continuity representation. It identifies Lock-In, Override, and Hidden Scaffolding as non-exhaustive structural failures, and positions the proposal relative to adjacent work in human-AI interaction, teaming, coordination, authorship, and data portability. This is a conceptual proposal and research agenda — not an empirically validated system, a claim of exhaustive novelty, legal advice, or a claim about machine consciousness or personhood.

Suggested citation
Preble, Micheal Charles. “Operant Dyad: Defining the Task-Bound Working Relationship in Human-AI Systems.” SSRN 7234238. Revised August 27, 2026. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.7234238.

The Problem

What happens when a human and an AI system form a repeated, task-bound working relationship: what accumulates across that relationship, and who still authors the result?

What This Work Contributes

Defines the Operant Dyad as the configured, task-bound working relationship; defines Relationship State and distinguishes declared from inferred state; introduces Truxion as a proposed construct for recurring misalignment cost and the Portable Operant Packet as a proposed continuity representation; and identifies Lock-In, Override, and Hidden Scaffolding as non-exhaustive structural failures.

How the Argument Works

A conceptual derivation positioned relative to adjacent work in human-AI interaction, teaming, coordination, authorship, and data portability. It does not report an empirical study.

Evidence Status

Evidence status: Conceptual proposal and research agenda.

How evidence status works across this site →

What This Does Not Claim

  • Not an empirically validated system.
  • Not a claim of exhaustive novelty.
  • Not legal advice.
  • Not a claim about machine consciousness or personhood.

Limitations & Open Questions

Truxion and the Portable Operant Packet are proposed constructs that have not been empirically tested. See the public research questions and the active OD-INV-01 pre-pilot, which examines what carries a persistent effect in this relationship.

For different readers

Who this is for

Researchers

Methods, protocols, and evidence status for this research area.

Media

Plain-language framing and exact claim boundaries.

Industry

System requirements and design implications.

Related Research

This paper is the foundation for the wider persistent-relationships program: The Persistent Primitive follows the state it produces into governed continuity, When Collaboration Becomes State asks when that state should be attributed to a specific participant, and Emergent Novelty asks whether some output arises from the pairing itself. See also Persistent Relationships and Human-Authority Layer.

Artifact Family

The standard derivative-product family for this paper. Only artifacts that actually exist are linked; the rest are planned and not yet produced.

Program context

Operant Dyad™ is a Perfinitive Research program focused on persistent human-AI interaction: what accumulates across repeated collaboration, where consequential state is carried, how continuity affects later behavior, and what governance becomes necessary when interaction history matters beyond the immediate exchange.

Operant Dyad does not function as a universal explanation for all human-AI phenomena. Perfinitive Research intentionally uses broader discovery and evaluation methods so that findings are not forced into the Operant Dyad framework.

Current program and carrier-localization research →