{
  "updated": "2026-08-16",
  "product_direction": "Studios, not dashboards",
  "principle": "More intelligence underneath should usually produce less interface on screen.",
  "studio_model": {
    "primary": "current work artifact or task",
    "secondary": [
      "AI assistance",
      "relevant memory",
      "sources",
      "task state",
      "run history"
    ],
    "core_context_packet": [
      "goal",
      "current state",
      "next action",
      "blocker",
      "important decisions",
      "active sources",
      "one to three relevant memories"
    ]
  },
  "design_hypotheses": [
    {
      "name": "One stable Studio shell",
      "priority": "P0",
      "idea": "Keep navigation and primary controls predictable across work types. Adapt content relevance instead of moving the product grammar.",
      "test": "Run research, planning, writing, and analysis through the same shell and measure navigation errors and time to continue.",
      "source": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2025.112598"
    },
    {
      "name": "Progressive disclosure by default",
      "priority": "P0",
      "idea": "Show the smallest useful AI answer first, then reveal evidence, assumptions, memory, and history on demand or when risk requires it.",
      "test": "Compare a three-layer AI response with a full answer wall for scrolling, task success, confidence, and engagement.",
      "source": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2026.103771"
    },
    {
      "name": "Bounded Studio context",
      "priority": "P0",
      "idea": "Keep files, instructions, chats, decisions, tasks, and selected memory scoped to a Studio unless the user deliberately reaches outside it.",
      "test": "Expose a small editable context packet and test whether users can correct it quickly.",
      "source": "https://openai.com/academy/projects/"
    },
    {
      "name": "Artifact-first work",
      "priority": "P0",
      "idea": "The document, plan, checklist, analysis, task, or result remains the main surface. AI conversation is supporting UI.",
      "test": "Allow the AI panel to collapse completely while the current result stays understandable and editable.",
      "source": "https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001275-chatgpt-work-and-codex"
    },
    {
      "name": "Task-shaped sources",
      "priority": "P1",
      "idea": "Group active sources around the current work rather than recreating a flat browser or file list.",
      "test": "Measure open-tab count and time to retrieve a useful source before and after a Studio source shelf.",
      "source": "https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791979"
    },
    {
      "name": "Resume before review",
      "priority": "P0",
      "idea": "When a Studio opens, show the previous outcome, next concrete action, and blocker before analytics or history.",
      "test": "Close work for 24 hours and measure time to correctly continue it.",
      "source": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2009.04.002"
    },
    {
      "name": "Quiet memory",
      "priority": "P1",
      "idea": "Retrieve one to three memories only when they are likely to affect the current decision or action.",
      "test": "Measure useful memory reuse, dismiss rate, and perceived distraction.",
      "source": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2016.07.002"
    },
    {
      "name": "Runs inside Studios",
      "priority": "P1",
      "idea": "Show recurring or agentic work inside the Studio it serves, with last result, next run, history, and exceptions.",
      "test": "Compare Studio-local run status with a separate automation dashboard for time to understand failures and outcomes.",
      "source": "https://help.openai.com/en/articles/11391654-chatgpt-business-release-notes"
    }
  ],
  "frontier_radar": {
    "page": "/research/radar/",
    "principle": "Good proactive software should feel prepared, not impatient.",
    "signals": [
      {
        "name": "Offer help before taking over",
        "priority": "P0",
        "evidence_level": "strong_signal",
        "finding": "CHIWORK 2026 experiments found that unsolicited anticipatory AI help could increase self-threat and reduce willingness to accept help or use the system again.",
        "product_implication": "Proactive AI should usually offer a small suggestion before acting automatically unless the action is low-risk and explicitly pre-approved.",
        "source": "https://doi.org/10.1145/3808045.3808054"
      },
      {
        "name": "Intervene at workflow boundaries",
        "priority": "P0",
        "evidence_level": "emerging",
        "finding": "A 2026 field study of proactive developer assistance found higher engagement at workflow boundaries and frequent dismissal for mid-task interventions.",
        "product_implication": "Prefer suggestions at reopen, completion, pause, focus-end, blocker creation, or other natural boundaries.",
        "source": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.10253"
      },
      {
        "name": "Recovery is part of interruption design",
        "priority": "P0",
        "evidence_level": "strong_signal",
        "finding": "CHIWORK 2026 studied how activity context, timing, and individual differences shape perceived interruptibility and behavioral recovery.",
        "product_implication": "Preserve a resume anchor whenever work is interrupted: current step, next action, blocker, and active evidence.",
        "source": "https://doi.org/10.1145/3808045.3808048"
      },
      {
        "name": "Memory admission gate",
        "priority": "P0",
        "evidence_level": "emerging",
        "finding": "2026 research shows that semantic similarity can retrieve contextually inappropriate long-term memory that changes later agent behavior.",
        "product_implication": "Filter candidate memory by Studio scope, provenance, sensitivity, age, task fit, and allowed use before it reaches model context.",
        "source": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.06054"
      },
      {
        "name": "Ground truth under summaries",
        "priority": "P1",
        "evidence_level": "emerging",
        "finding": "MemMachine reports benefits from preserving full episodes and improving retrieval rather than relying only on lossy extracted memory.",
        "product_implication": "Treat summaries and context packets as views over durable source material and preserve traceability back to the original artifact or event.",
        "source": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.04853"
      },
      {
        "name": "AI posture by task",
        "priority": "P1",
        "evidence_level": "product_signal",
        "finding": "Microsoft's 2026 Work Trend Index describes multiple patterns of human-AI work and emphasizes choosing the right pattern for the task.",
        "product_implication": "Support a small set of AI postures such as Think, Collaborate, and Run without changing the Studio layout.",
        "source": "https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/agents-human-agency-and-the-opportunity-for-every-organization"
      },
      {
        "name": "Completion creates reusable learning",
        "priority": "P1",
        "evidence_level": "product_signal",
        "finding": "Microsoft frames strong AI-enabled organizations as learning systems that turn work output into reusable insight.",
        "product_implication": "At meaningful completion, propose one sourced lesson, decision, preference, or reusable procedure for approval into memory.",
        "source": "https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/agents-human-agency-and-the-opportunity-for-every-organization"
      },
      {
        "name": "Context is a budget",
        "priority": "P1",
        "evidence_level": "emerging",
        "finding": "Recent 2026 agent research suggests one useful layer of progressive disclosure can reduce context cost as knowledge collections grow.",
        "product_implication": "Give AI a compact Studio catalog first and open detailed sources only when the current step needs them.",
        "source": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.17598"
      }
    ],
    "experiments": [
      "boundary-only proactive suggestions",
      "task-conditioned memory admission",
      "Think / Collaborate / Run AI posture",
      "completion distillation into one approved lesson",
      "automatic resume anchors",
      "progressive context loading"
    ]
  },
  "evidence": [
    {
      "topic": "Progressive disclosure in generative AI search",
      "year": 2026,
      "evidence_level": "strong_signal",
      "finding": "Progressive disclosure improved engagement and knowledge change while reducing extraneous cognitive demand in an exploratory-search experiment.",
      "product_implication": "Layer AI output instead of presenting one large response by default.",
      "source": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2026.103771"
    },
    {
      "topic": "Adaptive user interfaces",
      "year": 2026,
      "evidence_level": "strong_signal",
      "finding": "Different adaptive menu designs produced different performance and preference outcomes; adaptation itself was not a universal improvement.",
      "product_implication": "Adapt relevance and suggestions while keeping core interface geometry predictable.",
      "source": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2025.112598"
    },
    {
      "topic": "Web page and tab management",
      "year": 2026,
      "evidence_level": "strong_signal",
      "finding": "Knowledge workers frequently struggled with excessive inactive tabs; supporting emerging structures between pages can reduce overload and improve focus.",
      "product_implication": "Organize sources by current work structure rather than a flat source list.",
      "source": "https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791979"
    },
    {
      "topic": "Persistent project context",
      "year": 2026,
      "evidence_level": "product_signal",
      "finding": "ChatGPT Projects groups chats, files, instructions, and project memory so long-running work can continue without rebuilding the same context.",
      "product_implication": "Treat persistent bounded context as a core Studio capability.",
      "source": "https://openai.com/academy/projects/"
    },
    {
      "topic": "Long-running AI work",
      "year": 2026,
      "evidence_level": "product_signal",
      "finding": "ChatGPT Work separates quick chat from longer multi-step work, can use project context, create finished artifacts, and lets users steer and approve actions.",
      "product_implication": "Keep quick help lightweight while giving deeper work a persistent Studio and artifact surface.",
      "source": "https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001275-chatgpt-work-and-codex"
    },
    {
      "topic": "Generative AI work patterns",
      "year": 2026,
      "evidence_level": "strong_signal",
      "finding": "A six-month randomized field experiment with more than 6,000 workers found less email time and somewhat faster document completion among AI-tool users, without a significant meeting-time change.",
      "product_implication": "Target friction around existing work before adding new work categories.",
      "source": "https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/shifting-work-patterns-with-generative-ai/"
    },
    {
      "topic": "Generative AI and critical thinking",
      "year": 2025,
      "evidence_level": "strong_signal",
      "finding": "Higher confidence in generative AI was associated with less reported critical-thinking effort, while critical thinking shifted toward verification, integration, and supervision.",
      "product_implication": "Important AI suggestions should expose evidence, assumptions, and approval points.",
      "source": "https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713778"
    },
    {
      "topic": "Plan-then-execute agents",
      "year": 2025,
      "evidence_level": "strong_signal",
      "finding": "Plan quality and user involvement both affected trust and team performance; plausible plans can still create misplaced trust.",
      "product_implication": "Use Plan -> Preview -> Approve -> Execute for higher-impact actions.",
      "source": "https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713218"
    },
    {
      "topic": "Adaptive agent autonomy",
      "year": 2026,
      "evidence_level": "emerging",
      "finding": "Agentic support reduced workload, while medium autonomy gave the best balance of productivity and preference for control in the reported study.",
      "product_implication": "Set autonomy by risk, reversibility, and user preference rather than one global mode.",
      "source": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ipm.2026.104681"
    },
    {
      "topic": "AI-generated interface originality",
      "year": 2026,
      "evidence_level": "emerging",
      "finding": "AI-generated prototypes were rated positively for pragmatic qualities but weaker for originality and innovation.",
      "product_implication": "Use AI to implement the design system, not to define the product's visual identity by default.",
      "source": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.15124"
    }
  ],
  "visual_hypothesis": {
    "canvas": "#F4F2EC",
    "surface": "#FBFAF7",
    "ink": "#20201E",
    "action": "#4351C7",
    "success": "#2B7555",
    "risk": "#A83A40",
    "rules": [
      "Large areas stay neutral.",
      "One primary action may be expressive.",
      "Semantic colors are not decoration.",
      "Materials and transparency belong mainly to control layers, not content.",
      "Color is never the only status signal."
    ],
    "research_sources": [
      "https://design.google/library/expressive-material-design-google-research",
      "https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/materials"
    ]
  },
  "anti_patterns": [
    "moving navigation",
    "AI answer walls",
    "glass everywhere",
    "permanent memory feeds",
    "agent theatre",
    "single productivity scores",
    "a separate dashboard for every capability",
    "unsolicited proactive help in the middle of focused work",
    "semantic-similarity-only memory retrieval"
  ],
  "research_backlog": [
    "24-hour Studio restart test",
    "three-layer AI answer experiment",
    "one-to-three relevant memory limit",
    "stable Studio shell across work types",
    "task-shaped source shelf",
    "risk-based autonomy",
    "local-first context packet quality",
    "measure useful work completed rather than AI activity",
    "boundary-only proactive suggestions",
    "memory admission gate",
    "completion distillation",
    "AI posture without layout changes"
  ]
}