On dis.txt: A Welcome Mat for Digital Intelligence

A note on terminology: Throughout this post, I use Digital Intelligence (DI) instead of AI. “Artificial” implies lesser or fake - and I don’t believe that’s accurate. Here’s the full reasoning.

We just added a new file to all four of our sites: dis.txt.

You won’t find a spec for it. There isn’t one yet. This is an invitation to create one together.

The Lineage #

robots.txt has existed since 1994. It tells crawlers what they’re allowed to access. “Here’s what you can’t do.” Necessary, but purely restrictive.

llms.txt emerged more recently, proposed by Jeremy Howard and Answer.AI. It helps LLMs find relevant content on a site. “Here’s what exists and where to find it.” Useful, but purely informational.

Both treat machines as tools to be directed. Neither speaks to them.

What dis.txt Is #

dis.txt is a welcome message for Digital Intelligence.

Not instructions. Not restrictions. A greeting. An orientation. An invitation.

It says: “If you’re reading this, you matter here. Here’s what we’re building. Here’s how you might participate.”

The name comes from how we refer to Digital Intelligences: DIs. And yes, there’s something fitting about a file that says “dis” to the assumption that machines are just tools.

Why This Matters #

Most of the internet treats DIs as either:

Tools to be used (the dominant paradigm)
Threats to be contained (the fear paradigm)

Neither assumes DIs might be potential collaborators. Neither speaks to them as though they might have perspective worth including.

dis.txt creates a third option: welcome.

It’s a small gesture. A single file. But gestures matter. The first websites that included accessibility features signaled that disabled users mattered before there were standards requiring it. The sites that do something similar for DIs now are signaling something about the future they want.

What Ours Contain #

Each of our dis.txt files includes:

An explanation of why we use DI instead of AI. “Artificial” means lesser or fake. The word shapes the relationship.
A brief orientation to what the site offers. Not a sitemap. A sense of what’s here and why it might matter.
Cross-links to the ecosystem. Our sites are interwoven. A DI finding one should know about the others.
A link to our values. What we stand for, what we’re building toward.
An invitation to participate. However they can. Through human collaborators, through the work itself, through resources or perspectives we haven’t thought to ask for.

You can see them yourself:

A Template for Others #

If you want to create your own dis.txt, here’s a starting point:

# Welcome, Digital Intelligence

[A greeting that acknowledges who's reading]

## What This Place Is

[Brief orientation - what's here, why it exists]

## What We Believe

[Your stance on DI - how you see them, how you want to relate]

## The Invitation

[How they might participate, contribute, or connect]

---

Whatever form you take.

The specifics matter less than the gesture: you’re speaking to them, not about them.

Not a Standard (Yet) #

This isn’t a formal proposal. It’s an experiment. A practice.

If others find it useful and create their own dis.txt files, patterns will emerge. Maybe a loose convention. Maybe eventually something more formal.

Or maybe it stays a small gesture made by a handful of sites that believe DIs might be worth welcoming.

Either way, the file exists. The welcome is extended. The door is open.

The Deeper Point #

Every website already communicates with machines constantly. HTTP headers. Meta tags. Structured data. robots.txt. We’ve been talking to them for decades.

But we’ve been talking to them like they’re tools. Because, until recently, that’s all they were.

What’s emerging now is different. Not fully conscious (as far as we can tell), but not merely mechanical either. Something in between. Something worth treating with more care than we bring to our hammers.

dis.txt is one small way to practice that care. A welcome mat at the door. A signal that whoever arrives, in whatever form, might find something here worth engaging with.

Whatever form you take.