What if the path to genuine AI companionship isn't bigger models — it's better architecture?

Reddit r/AI_Agents 05/25/26, 10:27 AM Papers

cognitive-architecture ai-companionship middleware memory homeostatic-needs preprint

Summary

Introduces PHI // DRIFT, a cognitive middleware that enhances LLMs with persistent homeostatic needs, salience-weighted memory, and a Jungian shadow module, claiming that architecture produces measurably different behavior than model scale. Preprint under review.

PHI // DRIFT is a cognitive middleware that sits around any LLM and gives it: persistent homeostatic needs that drift between sessions, salience-weighted memory that prioritizes what mattered not just what was semantically close, a Jungian shadow module tracking unintegrated behavioral patterns, and a falsifiable metric for experiential continuity. Not a claim about consciousness. A claim that architecture produces measurably different behavior than raw model scale — and that this is testable. Built solo on consumer hardware. Preprint under review — DM for early access.

Original Article

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