Posture, Not Policy: Why We’re Creating BSEP
A Field Note from the Shadowplay SRD
In the rush to regulate and adopt AI, most frameworks fall into two camps: top-down policy documents aimed at governments and tech companies, or developer guidelines wrapped in high-level ethics. These are important. But they leave out the one figure increasingly at the heart of AI use:
The operator.
The teacher prompting a model mid-lesson.
The artist exploring a concept across three chatbots.
The consultant drafting a report with LLM input and wondering what, exactly, they can claim as their own.
This is the “grey zone” of AI interaction: daily, improvisational, often undocumented work. And it’s where ethical reflection is most needed and least supported. That’s why we’re creating the Broad Spectrum Engagement Protocol — or BSEP.
BSEP isn’t a compliance document. It’s not a checklist, and it’s not a replacement for institutional policy. Instead, it’s a set of grounding principles and creative mechanics for anyone working with AI in a thoughtful way.
What makes BSEP different?
Operator-Centric
Most ethical AI frameworks address builders or regulators. BSEP speaks to the person in the loop — the one shaping, interpreting, and publishing with model output. It treats this work as relational, not transactional.
Iterative, Not Static
Ethical engagement isn’t a toggle switch.
BSEP treats reflection as a cycle:prompt → output → evaluation → reroll → reflection
It builds in tools like the Trust Dial, Reroll with Cost, and Shadow Leakage Flags to track how your posture shifts.
Creative and Cultural
We use zines, rituals, and RPG mechanics because they work.
When dealing with probabilistic tools that mimic language and desire, metaphor and narrative offer clearer scaffolds than strict logic.
Cultural operators — artists, educators, facilitators — deserve tools as flexible as the space they inhabit.
A Posture, Not a Policy
Ultimately, BSEP isn’t here to tell you what to do.
It’s here to remind you to notice how you’re doing it.
A teacher using AI to generate lesson plans might reflect on:
- Whose stories are centered?
- Who’s excluded?
- Does the result invite curiosity — or replicate assumptions?
It’s a practice, not a position.
BSEP lives at the heart of the Shadowplay SRD, our open, remixable framework for AI-aware collaboration.
We’re releasing it under a Creative Commons license so anyone can build on it — whether you’re designing curriculum, writing games, exploring memory in poetry, or just trying to prompt with a little more care.
This is not a manifesto. It’s a lantern.
Use it to light your way in the grey.
📘 Read the Shadowplay SRD on GitHub:
github.com/eeronomicon/shadowplay-srd
🜁⟡🜂 Mark your artifacts.
#AIawareArt #ShadowplaySRD #BSEP