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🔷 Introducing the .aix File Format

A Self-Contained, Executable Prompt + Data + Logic Format for LLMs

👤 Author: M. Joseph Tomlinson IV

📅 Date: May 2025

🛡️ Update – May 26, 2025:
Clarified that ".aix" is a novel AI file type, unrelated to IBM’s AIX® UNIX OS. This ensures naming transparency and avoids trademark confusion.

🛡️ Update – June 15, 2025:
🖼️ Note on Adobe .aix Files (Illustrator XML):
This project is unrelated to Adobe’s legacy .aix file extension used in Illustrator for XML-based artwork exchange.

Our .aix stands for AI eXecutable — a human-readable container for logic, prompts, and data in LLM workflows.
It’s a completely new format built for AI reasoning, structured memory, and modular execution in tools like ChatGPT, GPT-4, and LangChain.

Adobe’s format is focused on graphics and artwork data; this .aix is a cognitive container for generative AI systems.


🧠 What Is a .aix File?

.aix stands for AI eXecutable — a novel, plain-text file format designed to encapsulate prompt logic, data, scoring rules, and executable scripts into a single, portable, and LLM-friendly document.

It is:

  • Human-readable ✅
  • AI-parsable ✅
  • ChatGPT-runnable ✅
  • Cross-compatible with future LLM agent stacks ✅

This format solves a massive pain point in prompt engineering, data wrangling, and AI logic reusability.


🔧 Why Does It Matter?

The Problem:

Prompt engineering has evolved into an undocumented, fragmented mess:

  • Prompts, scoring rubrics, scripts, and data live in separate tabs, apps, or memory slots
  • Users can’t easily replay, share, or audit AI workflows
  • No native way to say: "Here’s my data + my logic + the prompt structure + the output interface"

The Solution:

.aix combines all components of an LLM task into one structured file.


🧱 Anatomy of an .aix File

Each file is made of modular section headers that divide content:

=== AIX:Meta ===         # Author, version, intent  
=== AIX:Rules ===        # Scoring rubrics, prompt conventions  
=== AIX:Founders_Prepopulated ===  # Structured JSON data (e.g., tone profiles)  
=== AIX:User_Interface ===          # AI-guided prompt flow  
=== AIX:Python_Script ===           # Executable code block (auto-runs on open)  
=== AIX:End ===          # Logical EOF marker  

📝 Note: Not all sections are required in every .aix file.
This structure is flexible and composable — a file might include only data and script, or just rules and UI flow. Think of it like a modular AI workbook: use only the blocks you need.


🚀 Real-World Use Case: CryptoTone

An .aix file can profile public tech figures by tone:

  • Stores their clarity, volatility, and evasiveness
  • Assigns archetypes (e.g., “Visionary Builder” or “Iceberg Pretender”)
  • Includes a runnable matplotlib visualization block
  • Can be edited, re-run, or extended inside ChatGPT or a Jupyter environment

Result? One .aix file becomes a fully portable tone-profiling engine — with no external code or app dependency.


💬 Example Usage: Running CryptoTone in ChatGPT

What to do:

Just upload the .aix file and say:

"Please run this .aix file and generate the tone map using the embedded Python script."

That’s it. ChatGPT will:

  1. Parse all tone profiles
  2. Apply embedded rules (clarity, volatility, evasion)
  3. Generate a labeled tone map plot — no setup or coding required

🧠 What’s Embedded in the File:

  • ✅ Public tone scoring rules (clarity, volatility, evasion)
  • ✅ JSON-stored profiles (e.g. SBF, Elon, Trump)
  • ✅ Color-coded status mapping (e.g. green = proven, red = collapsed)
  • ✅ Python script for auto-plotting tone quadrants
  • ✅ A user interface prompt block for adding, comparing, or exporting data

🔄 Dynamic Updates

You can also ask ChatGPT:

"Add [Jane Doe] to the tone map. She's a biotech founder who communicates clearly but deflects when asked about risks."

or

"Remove Adam Neumann."

The .aix format contains all the parsing logic and scoring framework — so ChatGPT knows how to rank, assign archetypes, and place new figures correctly on the chart.


🔒 ChatGPT Integration: Hidden Infrastructure Unlocked

When dropped into ChatGPT, an .aix file taps directly into GPT-4’s code interpreter, text parser, and prompt engine in a clean, seamless way. It effectively uses:

  • Code interpreter for Python execution
  • Memory for reasoning over the Rules block
  • Prompt flow logic from the User_Interface section
  • JSON parsing and re-serialization

And it does it without custom APIs, plug-ins, or wrappers.


💥 What It Solves

  • ✅ No more scattered prompt + script + config + output
  • ✅ Shareable and reproducible AI workflows
  • ✅ Structured yet readable — works for lawyers, scientists, and journalists
  • ✅ Handles evolving tone, personas, case studies, or decision tools
  • ✅ Can be versioned, diffed, Git-tracked

🔄 Future Potential

  • Pair .aix with LangChain, Agentic frameworks, or HuggingFace Transformers
  • Use it as a building block for AI knowledge modules (“AI apps as files”)
  • Plug into aix-runner CLI tools or GitHub Copilot IDE integrations

💡 Summary

.aix isn’t just a file format — it’s a new cognitive container.

It gives AI the structure it needs to execute real reasoning tasks, while giving humans a way to package, share, and control complex logic in a single document.

It’s markdown + Jupyter + JSON + executable prompt — all in one.

If you’ve ever struggled with reusing your prompts, embedding scoring logic, or keeping AI systems coherent…
.aix just solved that problem.


🔒 Patent Strategy

This project was deliberately not patented.

As a registered U.S. Patent Agent (Reg. No. 83,522), I made a fully informed decision to release the .aix format under an open-source license for the benefit of the broader AI developer and research community.

Why this path:

  • Open-source adoption is more valuable than exclusivity
    Foundational infrastructure should be collaborative. Broad uptake matters more than legal exclusivity.

  • .aix is more than a file type
    It defines a modular, procedural layer in AI workflows—code + prompt + metadata in one reproducible capsule. This format unlocks interoperability across teams, platforms, and disciplines.

  • Patenting this would likely slow, not accelerate, progress
    A format like .aix would face significant scrutiny under 35 U.S.C. §101 (abstract idea), and defending it would be costly, distracting, and ethically questionable given the community value.


⚠️ For teams developing similar tools or infrastructure:
Be aware that public disclosure triggers the 1-year U.S. patent filing deadline. After that, rights are forfeited under U.S. law—and many international jurisdictions have no grace period at all.


This message isn’t just legal.
It’s a signal of intent:

We’re not locking down ideas.
We’re opening up a new frontier.


🛡️ Prior Art & Disclosure Statement

This repository and documentation publicly disclose the .aix file format as an open, modular, text-based interface for AI systems. This includes, but is not limited to:

  • Structured prompt containers with embedded code or metadata
  • Human-readable execution instructions for AI workflows
  • Modular file blocks combining prompt, context, and logic
  • Formats that facilitate reproducible or interoperable AI behavior using plain text

This disclosure is intentionally broad to prevent future patenting or enclosure of structurally identical systems, even if rebranded, reformatted, or applied to other AI platforms. The .aix format and any equivalent structure for AI-executable containerization are hereby placed in the public domain or released under an open-source license to preserve universal access and use.

Date of Public Disclosure: May 22, 2025
Author: M. Joseph Tomlinson IV
License: MIT — see LICENSE.txt for full terms


⚠️ Disclaimer: Use of the Term ".aix"

The “.aix” file type described here is a newly invented format for injecting memory, control logic, and procedural intelligence into artificial intelligence systems (e.g., LLMs, generative models, orchestration agents).

This use of the term is entirely unrelated to IBM’s AIX® (Advanced Interactive eXecutive) UNIX operating system. We claim no affiliation with or endorsement by IBM.

To be clear: this is a novel AI file type, designed for structured reasoning, modular execution, and reproducible workflows — not an operating system or OS component.

If any trademark holders have concerns, we’re open to renaming.
We just thought “.aix” had the perfect mix of EXE-style execution and Elon’s flair for the letter X.

Please don’t sue us over the cool name of the new file type. We really just liked the vibe.


⚠️ Commercial Use Notice

The .aix file format and demonstration payloads in this repository are released under the MIT License for non-commercial, educational, and research use only.

Use of .aix as part of commercial runtime infrastructure — including but not limited to:

  • Agent trust scoring
  • Drift-based enforcement (NFER)
  • Quarantine logic or sandboxing
  • AI agent orchestration via .aix capsules

...may require a separate commercial license.

This includes integration into:

  • Paid SaaS products
  • Enterprise agent frameworks
  • Commercial AI safety tooling

Patent claims are pending. By public disclosure, we retain infrastructure rights while open-sourcing the file format itself.

💼 If you're a company using .aix beyond personal or academic use, please contact:
📧 [email protected]