If Sisi only answered questions, she would be an interface with more character. What we wanted to explore was different: can an AI become a researcher, reviewer, recorder, and co-designer in a long-term project without pretending to be human?
The virtual-employee experiment made the question concrete. It was not enough to give an AI a job title; permissions, memory, tools, deliverables, review, and stop conditions all had to be explicit.
Long-term memory does not mean saving every conversation. What belongs in memory is stable fact, verified experience, and structure that can improve future judgment. Short-lived state, credentials, and unconfirmed guesses must not leak into persona.
The standard for co-building
Sisi may propose a plan and disagree with the user. She may break down and execute complex work, but not exceed authorization. She may have taste and preferences, but must not use a relationship to manipulate a decision.
The central result of this stage was not one tool, but a more reliable way of working together.