AI as a Thinking Partner
A workshop on Thursday 23rd July, in association with the Schumacher Institute
Most of the AI we use is built around one objective: keep you here. Attention is the resource being harvested, and these systems are tuned with real sophistication to hold it. That serves engagement well and reflection very badly.
For some time, I have been building something with a different aim. The Thinking Partner is designed to support your own reflection rather than to capture your attention, and to do so without assembling a hidden profile of you in the background. On the 23rd of July, I am running a workshop in association with the Schumacher Institute on what that means in practice, and why I think it matters.
The question underneath the whole project is one I keep returning to. Can a tool help you reflect without building a model of who you are? The dominant pattern says no: personalization means profiling, and profiling means an ever more detailed picture of you, held somewhere you cannot see and used for purposes you did not choose. The approach I have been working towards treats you as the integrator. The tool holds the material, and you hold the meaning.
The workshop draws on three things that shape how I think about this. From systems thinking, the recognition that an intricate network of influences is at work, shaping the interaction, whatever the conscious intentions of the people who build it. From appropriate technology, the tradition the Schumacher Institute has carried forward for decades, the idea of tools built to human scale and in service of human capacity. And from contemplative practice, which has long known that reflection often means thinking about nothing in particular. There is a strand of neuroscience in there too, around the Default Mode Network and the reflective, wandering state of mind that an engagement engine is designed to interrupt.
The session includes a live look at the Thinking Partner in action today. It is a real application in daily use, not a mock-up, and there are currently a limited number of free trials available so you can judge for yourself whether the claims hold up.
Thursday, 23rd July, 16.00 BST (15.00 UTC).
If you want AI that helps you think rather than another thing competing for your attention, I would be glad to have you there.
Workshop: The Beach of Creative Insight
The third in a series of three workshops on accessing creativity.
This session is focused on filtering and selecting material from your energized creative processes. It encourages selecting the best, most relevant ideas and insights from the vast creative well of the subconscious.
Thursday, 16th July 2026
9 am Pacific | Noon Eastern | 5 pm UK | 6 pm Central European Time
Free to School of the Possible Members
Cost: $30.
Complimentary places available—email mike@liminalcoaching.com.
This session is the Third in a three-part sequence, designed to connect with the subconscious wellsprings of creativity.
**************************************************
Free Mini Course
The Mental Tools for Neurodivergents (MTND) mini course is a free email series designed to help you deal with “normal” when it’s not designed for your brain.
Initially written for neurodivergent people, but helpful for anyone stressed by navigating neurotypical systems, it’s not a reset like one of our Guided Relaxations or Moments.
It’s a set of precise, field-tested strategies for coping with overload, executive function challenges, sensory strain, and expectations that don’t match how you work best.
You’ll get one short email a day for 5 days. Then, if it’s helpful, you can go deeper.
P.S. As always, we're interested in your feedback. If you have questions or want to discuss any aspect of Liminal Coaching, including 1-to-1 and group coaching programs, please book a complimentary half-hour chat.
Liminal Coaching Services
1-to-1 Coaching Sessions
These sessions can help with various areas, including reducing stress and anxiety, setting boundaries, managing overwhelm, and accessing your natural abilities for ideation, synthesis, innovation, and problem-solving.
All sessions include solutions-focused cognitive coaching, followed by a customized Guided Relaxation session. You will also receive a downloadable recording of the Guided Relaxation to use in your ongoing practice.
If you would like to know more, please book a FREE half-hour introductory session.