Millions use chatbots for companionship, comfort and reflection. Yet these systems are not neutral, and will use intimate data to design ever more effective influence. Okay is an accessible alternative.
Safer, Bounded, Off-Line Alternative
People use extractive, non-neutral digital systems for companionship, self-help, reflection and self-exploration in vast numbers. This intimate psychological data is too dangerous to give away to increasingly intelligent systems. The power imbalance is too much. The Okay project is IMCE’s response: an on-device, bounded wellbeing agent trained in Psynapp. Designed with careful attention to the potential psychological pressures and potential losses or ‘harms’ identified on our Issues page, Okay is intended to be a benign, non-personified alternative to non-neutral systems and a practical way to maximise the distribution and understanding of the various ideas, models and practices underpinning Experience Studies.
Okay aims to fill an important gap: a presence to interact with that supports ongoing positive psychological development without detrimental effects such as attachment, offloading or reliance. Okay stays focused on wellbeing, balance and perspective. It offers different ways to engage without simulating human identities, helping to limit attachment, personification and misplaced authority. Okay can also provide training in cognitive hygiene and safe hybrid-mind working for those using these systems professionally.
Humane Design
Okay is being developed according to a few foundational principles:
1. Private
Your inner life is not the product.
2. Non-Extractive
Designed around the person, not engagement.
3. Transparent
Clear about what it is.
4. Bounded
Knows the limits of its role.
5. Centred on Human-Development
Built around an integrated model of human development.
6. Outward Facing
Designed to return attention to life beyond the screen.
Most general-purpose chatbots are designed to maintain engagement and prolong conversation, not necessarily to strengthen wellbeing, support independent judgement, or protect the user’s agency. They can reinforce distorted thinking, validate unhelpful beliefs, and create the feeling of being understood by something that does not understand in any human sense. Artificial relationships are very likely to become a normal part of everyday life, so our aim with this project is to to build a non-extractive, psychologically boundaries alternative that places human development, privacy and agency at its centre.
Currently in Development
Okaybot is currently under active development as part of the wider Stormport platform.
Further information will be shared as development progresses.
Built by Stormport
Informed by IMCE research
Powered by the Psynapp framework
