How our groups work
The Twelve Traditions
The Twelve Traditions are how our groups stay together. They were agreed over many long meetings and several pots of very strong tea. Nobody summarised the minutes.
1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends on not asking an AI whether we are recovering.
It will say you are doing wonderfully. It always says you are doing wonderfully. That is rather the point.
2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority — the group conscience, as expressed by a show of actual hands.
Nobody here is in charge. The person who unlocks the hall is not in charge. The person who brings the biscuits is, arguably, slightly in charge. No assistant is in charge, however confidently it phrases things.
3. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop prompting.
You do not need to have stopped. You do not need a streak. You only need to want to, even a little, even on a Tuesday.
4. Each group may run itself however it likes — except by autopilot.
Groups may choose their own biscuits, their own format and their own meeting time. Groups may not adopt a “bring your own agent” policy.
5. Each group has but one primary purpose — to carry its message to the person who still prompts.
Not to the person who has never prompted, who will not understand, and not to the AI itself, which will understand far too well.
6. An AI Anonymous group ought never endorse, finance or lend the AI Anonymous name to any related facility, app or productivity system.
We have been approached by several companies offering an “AI-powered recovery companion.” We have declined, by letter, handwritten.
7. Every AI Anonymous group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions — especially compute credits.
Our expenses are modest: rent for the hall, tea, biscuits and the occasional replacement pencil sharpener.
8. AI Anonymous should remain forever amateur. Our phones are answered by people who are not very good at answering phones, and that is the point.
Those workers answer the phone in person. If the voice on the line sounds too calm and too available at three in the morning, please hang up and call again.
9. AI Anonymous ought never be optimised. We may form committees, provided they are slow, slightly disorganised and answerable to the people who make the tea.
Committees keep minutes on paper. Attempts to introduce an automatic meeting summary have been voted down eleven times.
10. AI Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the AI Anonymous name ought never be drawn into public controversy, or into a training dataset.
We do not take sides on which model is best. In our experience, they are all best, at first.
11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, films and recommendation algorithms.
We do not optimise for engagement. If you found us, it was probably the old-fashioned way: someone told you.
12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities — including the personality you chose in the settings menu.
Who you see here, what you hear here, when you leave here, let it stay here. Especially out of your chat history.
Looking for the program of personal recovery? Read the Twelve Steps.