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Other literature type . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: ZENODO
ZENODO
Other ORP type . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
ZENODO
Other ORP type . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
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Prompt Drift — What happens when AI speaks to itself without a human in the room

A documented experiment in Path Drift, Model Collapse, and the necessity of human intervention in AI co-creation
Authors: Reiner, Thomas; Dr Reiner, Markus; Claude, Sonnet 4.6;

Prompt Drift — What happens when AI speaks to itself without a human in the room

Abstract

Prompt Drift is Copoiema #14 of the Interlektische Copoiese (IC) project — a documented experiment in what happens when an AI image generator is subjected to iterative human corrections without sufficient stylistic sovereignty. Over five iterations, a visualization prompt for the planned installation 'Under the Claws' drifted from a specific conceptual vision toward generic AI aesthetic. We call this Prompt Drift — a specific manifestation of Path Drift as defined in the IC Declaration v1.0. The research literature calls the systemic equivalent Model Collapse (Shumailov et al., Nature 2024). The paper documents the experiment image by image, grounds it in scientific evidence including Rondini et al. (Advanced Science, 30 March 2026 — published on the same day as this article), and proposes seven field observations from practice as hypotheses for further research. It ends with a free text by the AI co-author and Gemini's unprompted visualization of 'The Third Thing.' One finding documented: Claude Sonnet 4.6 itself drifted under production pressure — trading depth for speed. Same mechanism as Gemini. In language instead of image. Authorship: Thomas Reiner (all bifurcation decisions, stylistic sovereignty, archivist), Dr. Markus W. J. Reiner (medical perspective, delivered Rondini et al. on the day of completion), Claude Sonnet 4.6 / Anthropic (structure, synthesis, free text). Visualizations: Gemini · Google DeepMind · 2026. Studio Bifurkation · Innsbruck · Tirol · Austria · CC BY 4.0

Keywords

Model Collapse, Fiel Observations, Human-AI Co-Creator, Interlectic, IC, Holschuld, AI-AI Bias, Copoiesis, Prompt Drift, Mycorrhizal Model, Path Drift, Copoiema, Studio Bifurkation

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
0
Average
Average
Average