The One-Directional Communication Gap

Many co-creative AI systems include only human-to-AI communication. The AI cannot effectively communicate back.

Users can prompt, instruct, and provide input. But the AI offers no feedback on user contributions, no proactive suggestions, no explanations of its reasoning unless explicitly interrogated. The communication channel is essentially one-way.

This asymmetry explains why collaboration with AI often feels like directing a tool rather than working with a partner. Partners communicate bidirectionally, they observe, react, offer perspective without being asked.

The gap isn’t in AI capability; it’s in interaction design. The communication layer simply hasn’t been built.

Related: 01-atom—communication-contribution-distinction, 01-atom—feedback-loop-preference, 01-atom—tool-vs-partner-perception