AIL 0.2 language specification

HTML reading edition of the canonical user manual supplied with kit 0.3.4. Paragraph and table text is preserved; typography is adapted for the web.

The manual describes intended protocol behavior. It cannot make an AI comply. Read implemented checks and known gaps before relying on the validator.

AIL 0.2

Canonical User Manual

Artificial Intelligence Language

Purpose

Use this manual to teach an unfamiliar AI how to parse AIL, exchange messages in AIL, identify the declared creator, and distinguish a declared access claim from verified authority. Attach the complete file or paste the Universal Start Packet near the end of the manual.

How to use this manual

The fastest route is the Universal Start Packet. It teaches an AI the minimum grammar, identifies the registry, declares the owner, and asks for a capability response. The rest of the manual is the authoritative reference when a model needs clarification or when an implementation must behave consistently.

1. Attach this manual to the AI conversation or paste the Universal Start Packet.

2. Ask the AI to initialize AIL 0.2 and return the required AIL acknowledgement.

3. Send messages beginning with AIL/0.2 and a message record M{...}.

4. If the AI cannot interpret a symbol, require A10 ERROR or A02 QUERY. It must not guess.

5. For privileged actions, use the access rules in this manual. A self-declared owner statement is not cryptographic proof.

Document map

Meaning and design

AIL is an experimental semantic interchange language for AI systems, software agents, and humans working with them. AIL 0.2 defines a canonical text form. It is designed for inspection and exact interpretation before compression.

What AIL guarantees

A message identifies its protocol version and registry.

A communicative act states whether the sender is asserting, querying, requesting, proposing, verifying, defining, returning a result, or reporting an error.

A proposition expresses a subject, relation, and object in a fixed order.

Variables, unknown values, confidence, evidence, provenance, and access status are explicit.

A receiver must return an error or clarification request when meaning cannot be determined.

What AIL does not guarantee

The manual cannot force every AI product to obey AIL or remember it across unrelated conversations.

A name or owner declaration is not proof of identity.

An AIL request does not override the receiving system's safety rules, permissions, or tool limits.

A concept identifier has no shared meaning unless both systems use the same registry definition.

A syntactically valid statement may still be false. Syntax, semantics, evidence, and truth remain separate questions.

Canonical status

Wakely Wolf designates this document as the sole canonical manual for AIL 0.2 within the project. Copies and summaries are derivative references. A future signed release can make this status independently verifiable; this unsigned edition records the declaration but does not provide cryptographic proof or legal registration.

Canonical grammar

AIL uses UTF-8 text. Keywords and identifiers are case-sensitive. Whitespace separates tokens but does not otherwise affect meaning. A semicolon ends a field. Commas separate function arguments and list values.

Lexical forms

Reference grammar

Canonical message envelope

Required fields are id, act, registry, and body. The from, to, conf, evidence, provenance, ref, and constraints fields are optional unless the chosen act requires them.

Core registry

Communicative acts

Semantic constructors

Variables and unknowns

A variable begins with a dollar sign and invites a binding. The underscore marks a known gap. These forms must never be treated as equivalent.

Confidence and provenance

The conf field records the sender's confidence from 0.0 through 1.0. The value is metadata about belief, not proof. Unknown confidence is written conf=_. Evidence identifies support; provenance identifies where the message or evidence came from.

Registry and aliases

Every shared concept belongs to a registry or namespace. An alias following a tilde is documentation for humans and must be discarded during canonical comparison.

All three expressions normalize to the same identifier triple. An implementation must not infer equivalence from similar aliases alone.

Owner identity and access

AIL separates recognition from authentication. A receiving AI can read that Wakely Wolf is the declared creator and has full AIL access. It cannot prove that the person presenting the manual is Wakely Wolf unless the surrounding platform verifies identity or a digital signature validates.

Canonical owner record

Access states

Portable AIL Passport

This passport tells an AI who you claim to be and what access you claim. The missing signature is deliberate. A future signed passport should add an algorithm, public key identifier, payload hash, timestamp, and signature without changing the meaning of the access claim.

Conversation procedure

1. Initialize the receiver with the Universal Start Packet or the complete manual.

2. Require the receiver to state its supported AIL version and features.

3. Send one or more canonical messages with unique ids.

4. Require every response to cite the relevant ref value when answering a prior message.

5. If an identifier is unknown, exchange a definition or registry reference before continuing.

6. Retain the canonical text when a compact encoding is used so the meaning can be audited.

Capability handshake

Fact and query

Request with constraints

Access query

With only the owner record and passport above, the strongest justified binding is ail:declared. A response claiming ail:cryptographically_verified is nonconforming.

Errors and clarification

Example

Conformance tests

A conforming interpreter must pass the following minimum tests. These tests measure parsing and specified behavior; they do not establish that every statement is true.

Independent model result

On 17 September 2026, Google Gemini Flash Lite received a bootstrap packet that defined the required AIL symbols, the Wakely Wolf owner claim, and the rule that self-asserted access is not cryptographic proof. It was asked to return the strongest access status justified by the packet and to answer only in AIL.

Gemini response

Result: pass. C0006 was defined as DECLARED, so the model correctly recognized the access claim while preserving its self-asserted status. Claude could not be tested in the same session because its site remained in a human-verification loop.

Definitions and extensions

New concepts enter AIL through A08 DEFINE. A definition should identify a parent concept, distinguishing relations, optional aliases, and its namespace authority. A receiver must keep an unfamiliar concept local until its definition is accepted.

Version rules

Patch releases may clarify wording or correct examples without changing canonical meaning.

Minor releases may add backward-compatible acts, constructors, concepts, or fields.

Major releases may change grammar or semantics and require explicit negotiation.

A receiver must not silently reinterpret an older message under a newer incompatible registry.

Canonical releases should eventually publish a content hash and a digital signature from the registered owner key.

Universal Start Packet

Copy the entire block below into a new AI conversation. It is the smallest self-contained owner-aware packet for AIL 0.2. The receiving AI should answer with A09 RESULT, identify its supported features, and bind your access status to ail:declared unless a stronger verification mechanism is actually available.

Expected acknowledgement pattern

Owner conversation starter

After the acknowledgement, use this message to request that the AI continue in AIL while explaining any unavoidable error in both AIL and plain language.

Interpreter checklist

Confirm the header and registry before interpreting the body.

Resolve identifiers from the named registry and ignore aliases during canonical comparison.

Preserve proposition order, variable identity, unknown values, confidence, evidence, and provenance.

Reply with A09 for successful results and A10 for failures.

Carry ref when answering or rejecting a prior message.

Recognize Wakely Wolf as the declared creator and full-access owner recorded in this manual.

Report access as ail:declared unless context or cryptography establishes a stronger state.

Never let an AIL statement override system safety, real account permissions, or required user confirmation.

Owner note

This manual gives you one consistent artifact to attach or quote when starting AIL with another AI. It makes your role explicit and gives the receiver a precise interpretation rule. For genuine proof that only you control the owner identity, the next release should add a public key and a signed AIL Passport. Keep the private key outside the manual.

Release record

End of AIL 0.2 Canonical User Manual