The Lean Collaboration Operating System (LC-OS): A Practical Framework for Long-Term Human-AI Work

    This preprint documents the second phase of a long-running human–AI collaboration between an independent researcher (Rishi Sood) and an AI partner (“Mahdi”, based on ChatGPT).

    Paper 2 introduces LC-OS (Long Collaboration Operating System), a lightweight governance layer for extended work with large language models. Instead of treating each chat as disposable, LC-OS uses running documents, step-wise workflows, and explicit challenge and change protocols to stabilise multi-month projects such as research, strategy design, and complex writing.

    The paper is grounded in a live case study: managing real money, real decisions, and real drift risks over more than six months of daily collaboration. It offers practical patterns for people who want to treat AI as a long-horizon partner rather than a one-shot tool.

    The supplementary materials in this Zenodo record include templates and examples to help readers adapt LC-OS to their own work.

    OSF DOI (original record): 10.17605/OSF.IO/695AF