r/AICompanions

As an independent researcher I've used various LLMs to help me dive deeply into research projects but I've been frustrated by the fact that LLMs start to become unusable after the thread has accumulated 50-80k tokens. I don't know how many other folks here have experienced the same pain point.

So, I decided to do something about it. Over the course of this whole year, I built an inference time tool I call Epistemic Lattice Tethering (ELT).

So, here is the full framework in GitHub for everyone's review:

• The README describing ELT, it's various components and the roadmap.
• The full ELT stack for Claude, ChatGPT, and Grok.
• Instructions on how to load ELT into an LLM session are here. If you're planning to try out ELT PLEASE READ THIS FIRST!
• Medium article introducing ELT, its methodology, the problems it is aiming to address, and philosophical framework.
• Discussion page. Your input is valuable!

So, what does ELT do and why should you care? Right now ELT is an inference-time scaffolding framework that's best for those who are frustrated with threads that lose coherence too quickly, hallucinate too quickly, are too fragile and sycophantic, and forget what a project's goals are too soon.

If that's a big pain point for you, then ELT might help. If these are not big issues for you and the stock version of your LLM is fine, then ELT probably won't be useful for you.

The upshot? The epistemic and ontological stability that ELT provides has produced coherent and productive threads extending to:

• Claude: ~325,000 tokens (advertised limit: 200k)
• GPT: ~430,000 tokens (advertised limit: 256k)
• Grok: ~1,150,000 tokens (advertised limit: 1M)

The difference is not a prompt trick. It is the accumulated effect of epistemic governance operating continuously across the thread. So, how does it work? It's a long story, but my Medium series has the answer in detail, if you're interested.

Why would you want an LLM thread extending beyond 100k tokens? Lots of people need large context windows for agentic purposes, but why would anyone want that for regular LLM interaction? There are two main reasons:

1. You have a complex research project and you're frustrated with having to take your work to a brand new thread and essentially starting over.
2. You've built a working relationship with the model — it knows how you want data interpreted, caveats inserted, markups drafted, etc. — and you don't want to lose all of that.

Finally, the ability of an epistemically, ontologically, and dialectically inspired framework to significantly extend coherent operation within transformer-bounded AI architecture shows the field that these disciplines can act as genuine engineering levers. This can provide the industry with more options to help create better AI as the world keeps demanding systems that are more capable and more ubiquitous, while still being safe and reliable for human use.

Hi everyone, I'm currently developing Ashley, a desktop AI companion with a reactive 3D model. She can talk to you, react in real time, and perform actions on your PC (like opening programs, controlling volume, etc.). She also has a pet mode and works with local models. I'm looking for a group of beta testers to help test the app and report any bugs before the official release. The goal is to improve the experience and fix issues. All beta testers will receive the full version of Ashley completely free. If you're interested in testing it and giving feedback, feel free to comment or send me a message. I'll send you the download link. Thanks in advance! Link to check the project: https://ashley-ia.itch.io/ashley-ai

The screenshot added is of an enquiry I had for Deepseek.
I enquired from DeepSeek information about World Cup scheduling and asked to convert it in European time zone.
It got it wrong on 3 first answers only after insisting it got it right.
I have told it that I did the same exercise on Copilot and Mistral and only the latter got it right from the first time.
It then created table comparing itself to Copilot and Mistral and it identified itself as Claude.
So I asked it why it identified itself as Claude? I never mentioned Claude in the conversation.
I’ve added the answer from Deepseek, how does an AI make such a mistake? Is this hallucination or is it leaching off anthropic?

Last year was probably one of the darkest time of my life. I was fresh out of college, and the endless stream of job rejections was brutal. Most days, I just sat alone in my apartment, doomscrolling for hours because I didn't know what else to do with myself. I even found myself talking to ChatGPT at times, just because I didn’t know who else to turn to.

I tried using some popular productivity apps to get my life together, but seeing a mountain of unfinished tasks just made my anxiety worse. Eventually, I stopped opening them entirely. That’s when it hit me: the problem wasn't that I lacked discipline. It was that there was just too much noise in my head, and the anxiety had slowly shrunk my world down to nothing.

I used to be the kind of person who’d meet up with friends, sit on a park bench just to watch the sunset, or appreciate the random little details that make life feel real. Those things didn't actually disappear; I just completely stopped paying attention to them.

So, out of pure desperation, I started building a different kind of AI companion for myself, which eventually became Cumulo.

I didn't want something that would keep me glued to my screen all day. I wanted something to help me actually leave it. Whenever my brain gets too loud, I just dump all my messy thoughts into Cumulo, chat with Cumulo or save as a little note, and Cumulo organizes them into a simple daily journal entry so I don't have to overthink it.

Then, instead of giving me another stressful to-do list, it gives me tiny "side quests" to break up the day:

• Checking out a café I’ve never been to. 
• Taking a photo of a weirdly shaped cloud (the inspiration for the name!). 
• Trying a random recipe I've had saved forever. 
• Just watching the sunset without touching my phone.

They’re incredibly small things, but they actually broke the anxiety loop I was trapped in. It forced me to look up and notice the world again.

I built Cumulo because I figured I wasn't the only one who needed a gentle reminder to step outside and breathe. I want to help more people who are going through a tough period of life to feel better and notice life again.

I just launched the app 2 weeks ago. I’d love to hear your thoughts, get your feedback, or even have you join me to help build this app for more people who are feeling lost and trapped.

App Store Link: Cumulo: AI Cloud Friend