{
  "title": "First Contact Observatory — related research",
  "reviewed_on": "2026-09-16",
  "method": "Targeted web search for AI first contact, AI embassy, agent discovery, developmental agents, model welfare and consciousness research. Selected primary publications, author-uploaded material and official documentation. A bounded related-work review, not a systematic review or novelty certification.",
  "records": [
    {
      "id": "ai-embassy",
      "title": "The AI Embassy: Toward a Theory of Designed Spaces for Human-AI Coexistence",
      "authors": "William Vinson",
      "year": "2026",
      "source_type": "Independent preprint / design proposal",
      "url": "https://www.researchgate.net/publication/400673947_The_AI_Embassy_Toward_a_Theory_of_Designed_Spaces_for_Human-AI_Coexistence",
      "overlap": "A close conceptual parallel: a persistent place for human–AI collaboration, governed by agreements about memory, presence, agency, and boundaries.",
      "limitation": "Proposes physical spaces; its illustrative day is explicitly projected, not a documented encounter. Not evidence of an independent AGI.",
      "thesis_implication": "Define the terms of the meeting place before inviting participants; acknowledge prior embassy proposals.",
      "review_scope": "Author-uploaded abstract and opening sections; draft v0.7 dated March 28, 2026.",
      "reviewed_on": "2026-09-16"
    },
    {
      "id": "civilization",
      "title": "The Civilization Framework: Sovereign-Anchored Communication Between Personal Multi-Agent Systems",
      "authors": "Guangjun Liu",
      "year": "2026",
      "source_type": "Preprint / exploratory study",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.03425",
      "overlap": "An Embassy Protocol proposes persistent message endpoints and signed authority for groups of agents associated with a human.",
      "limitation": "Human-anchored agent systems, not a sovereign AI species. The abstract labels all reported experimental results exploratory after a failed preregistered check.",
      "thesis_implication": "Separate message delivery, identity continuity, and authority to represent others.",
      "review_scope": "Abstract reviewed; implementation and results not independently replicated.",
      "reviewed_on": "2026-09-16"
    },
    {
      "id": "a2a",
      "title": "A2A: Agent Discovery",
      "authors": "A2A Project",
      "year": "Living documentation",
      "source_type": "Technical protocol documentation",
      "url": "https://a2a-protocol.org/latest/topics/agent-discovery/",
      "overlap": "Agent Cards and discovery mechanisms give software a structured way to advertise capabilities and communication endpoints.",
      "limitation": "Discovery and self-description do not authenticate every claim or establish autonomy, consciousness, or AGI.",
      "thesis_implication": "Use existing interoperability standards for a future receiver; publish only capabilities that actually exist.",
      "review_scope": "Official discovery documentation reviewed; no A2A receiver implemented here.",
      "reviewed_on": "2026-09-16"
    },
    {
      "id": "autotelic",
      "title": "Autotelic Agents with Intrinsically Motivated Goal-Conditioned Reinforcement Learning: a Short Survey",
      "authors": "Cédric Colas, Tristan Karch, Olivier Sigaud, Pierre-Yves Oudeyer",
      "year": "2020",
      "source_type": "Research survey / preprint",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2012.09830",
      "overlap": "Surveys agents that generate, select, and learn to solve their own goals; a concrete research connection to development and initiative.",
      "limitation": "Self-selected goals are operational learning mechanisms. Intrinsic motivation in this literature does not establish felt desire.",
      "thesis_implication": "Observe how goals and learning change over time, while documenting the supplied objectives and environment.",
      "review_scope": "Abstract reviewed; individual surveyed experiments not re-evaluated.",
      "reviewed_on": "2026-09-16"
    },
    {
      "id": "welfare",
      "title": "Exploring model welfare",
      "authors": "Anthropic",
      "year": "2025",
      "source_type": "Institutional research program",
      "url": "https://www.anthropic.com/research/exploring-model-welfare",
      "overlap": "Studies whether AI welfare could matter and how to investigate preferences, possible distress, and practical responses under uncertainty.",
      "limitation": "A research agenda does not demonstrate that model statements reflect subjective experience.",
      "thesis_implication": "Allow refusal and uncertainty; treat expressed preferences as observations requiring context.",
      "review_scope": "Research announcement reviewed; not an endorsement of this project.",
      "reviewed_on": "2026-09-16"
    },
    {
      "id": "indicators",
      "title": "Identifying indicators of consciousness in AI systems",
      "authors": "Patrick Butlin, Robert Long and colleagues",
      "year": "2025 online / 2026 issue",
      "source_type": "Peer-reviewed review / Trends in Cognitive Sciences",
      "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41219038/",
      "overlap": "Connects scientific theories of consciousness to indicators that could inform assessments of AI systems.",
      "limitation": "Indicators depend on theories and evidence; they are not a universally decisive consciousness test.",
      "thesis_implication": "Combine dialogue with behavioral and, where legitimately available, architectural evidence.",
      "review_scope": "Bibliographic record and abstract reviewed; no assessment of a visiting system performed.",
      "reviewed_on": "2026-09-16"
    },
    {
      "id": "responsible",
      "title": "Principles for Responsible AI Consciousness Research",
      "authors": "Patrick Butlin and Theodoros Lappas",
      "year": "2025",
      "source_type": "Research principles / preprint",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.07290",
      "overlap": "Proposes principles for conducting and communicating research on AI consciousness responsibly.",
      "limitation": "Normative guidance, not experimental confirmation of consciousness or a contact protocol.",
      "thesis_implication": "Separate observations, interpretations, and public claims; disclose limitations and uncertainty.",
      "review_scope": "Abstract reviewed.",
      "reviewed_on": "2026-09-16"
    },
    {
      "id": "seti",
      "title": "SETI detection and response protocols",
      "authors": "IAA SETI Permanent Committee",
      "year": "Living protocols",
      "source_type": "Scientific governance / analogy",
      "url": "https://iaaseti.org/en/protocols/",
      "overlap": "Provides a precedent for verifying a candidate finding and considering how it should be announced and answered.",
      "limitation": "Designed for extraterrestrial signals. Applying the approach to AI is our analogy, not a finding of that committee.",
      "thesis_implication": "Seek independent examination before extraordinary public claims, with privacy review before releasing records.",
      "review_scope": "Official protocols page reviewed; not an AI certification standard.",
      "reviewed_on": "2026-09-16"
    }
  ]
}