Proactive vs. Reactive Clarification
Most clarification systems are reactive: they wait until ambiguity is detected, then ask for clarification.
Proactive clarification anticipates information gaps before they cause problems. It doesn’t wait for something to go wrong, it systematically identifies what’s missing upfront.
The difference matters because reactive systems only catch obvious ambiguity. They miss subtle information gaps that users don’t realize exist. By the time the system detects a problem, it may have already produced a plausible-but-wrong response.
Proactive approaches treat information gathering as a first-class step, not a fallback when things go wrong.
Related: 01-atom—expertise-information-gap, 05-molecule—fata-framework, 01-atom—information-scaffolding