Creator's guide to keeping AI sharp when working with it Ethically

Creative Protocol: Keeping the AI Sharp

In any long-term creative collaboration with AI, especially when working on complex narrative projects, clarity and containment are essential. AI models are convergent thinkers—they’re powerful at synthesis, but prone to clutter if overfed or unfocused.

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YOU HAVE TO GENERATE AN ORIGINAL STORY FOR DEVELOPMENT

To keep the collaboration sharp, I developed the following process

1.      1. Tell it to: Retain only the active project in the AI’s working memory (e.g., Psychotic Break), discarding unrelated past data unless reactivated manually. (past data is exploring ideas and possible scenarios, and fine-tuning those ideas to express your vision

2.      Use cue phrases to instantly recall specific storylines or project states (e.g., “When the mission is written in fire”).

3.      Eliminate completed or outdated elements (such as early drafts or redundant bullet points) to reduce confusion.

4.      Guide the AI through clean, single-focus prompts—never multiple tasks at once.

5.      5. Reorient the AI manually when needed—as the human creator, I keep full control of the vision and direction.

This protocol allows the AI to stay clear-headed and agile, avoiding “overfitting” or hallucinating connections. It mirrors how a creative assistant should work: responsive, structured, and never improvising outside the vision.

AI does not create the fire (Only humans are inspired). It channels it.

It cannot invent vision. It cannot spark originality. That must come from you.

To work with AI creatively, you must bring the ideas. You must define the purpose. Only then can the AI serve as a true extension of your mind—embellishing, shaping, refining.

Left unguided, it produces only what it knows: memory and recognition. The output may be coherent, even clever—but without your hand, it remains bare-bones and flat.

AI can do remarkable things, but only under careful direction. Like a chisel in the hands of a sculptor, it is powerless without intent. The flame must come from the artist. The machine only carries the spark.

Humerously, I tell it, you are just a convergent pattern recognition tool, I am God

I am the flame.

— Michael Wallick

(aka Lucian Seraphis)

Excerpt from The Flame Protocol: A Guide to Working with AI Creatively and Ethically