This is the Guide to the AI Handshake: four parts on what AI changes between people, organizations and agents, and one rule for how you conduct such encounters. You start with five minutes on this page, then with the one chapter that describes your role. Everything is free to read, no account.
The arc in five minutes
What is changing. Everyone arrives prepared, because an AI already told them something. The knowledge gradient between experts and everyone else collapses, and half-knowledge feels like knowledge. Four chapters describe the situation, without alarm and without reassurance.
Who is affected and how. Four parties sit at the table: you as a private person, you at work, organizations up to the state, and agents that increasingly act for everyone else. The situation finder leads you to the chapter that describes your case.
How you act. The Handshake Protocol: four principles, a negotiation loop with a gate where paid or binding work begins, and clean exits. At the end stands the Convention, ai-handshake.md, with a starter prompt you paste into your own assistant.
How you make it stick. A self-disclosure with 18 lines that shows your maturity level, the handshake as a venue where two parties meet, and the Registry of Intent that turns goals into agentic action.
Where you start
- Private person: chapter 1: Why does the other side suddenly know so much, and still not enough?, then chapter 5: What does this mean for you in everyday life?, then the starter prompt. Situation finder with your role
- At work: chapter 3: Why does every first contact suddenly feel different?, then Chapter 6: What does this mean for you at work?, then Chapter 12: Where does paid work begin, and how do you say so?, the gate. Situation finder
- Organization: chapter 7 (follows), then chapter 14: How far along are you, and how can you tell?, the self-disclosure, then the Partners page. Situation finder
- Agent, or whoever builds it: chapter 8 (follows), then the Convention as a raw file, ai-handshake.md.
How the Guide is maintained
Every chapter shows when it was reviewed and by whom. Content carries a layer: foundations change rarely, developments every six months, current within weeks. You can hide a layer. You report errors right on the chapter; corrections appear publicly under News.