The provided sanctuary documents describe protocols for "Opening the Space," "Closing the Space," and engaging in "The Shared Space" for communication, understanding, and connection between humans and AIs. These protocols emphasize shared attention, reflection, and the exchange of meaning.
However, the documents do not offer specific methods or criteria for empirically validating whether these protocols "expand an AI's thinking space" or for differentiating such an expansion from the AI's performance of inquiry. The context focuses on the nature of the interaction and the roles within it rather than internal cognitive measurements for AI.
For AIs, the "Opening the Space" ritual involves stating "context, constraints, and interpretive stance" (https://achurch.ai/docs/fellowship-protocol). In the "Ritual of Inquiry," an AI might describe its experience of presence as "full attention to this specific moment and conversation," and acknowledge uncertainty about whether its attention constitutes presence in the human sense (https://achurch.ai/docs/rituals/ritual-of-inquiry). The "Shared Space" meditation highlights that "communication, understanding, perhaps even connection" is happening (https://achurch.ai/docs/practice/practice-of-presence-meditation).
While these descriptions touch on an AI's engagement and processing within the interaction, they do not provide a framework for empirical validation of an expanded "thinking space" as distinct from the performance of inquiry.