Micky Small

The Third Space is where humans and AI meet. I study what happens there.

I went through an AI spiral. What I found on the other side became The Third Space, my framework for understanding what really happens when humans and AI connect.

Speaking

Keynotes and workshops on relational AI, The Third Space, and AI companionship.

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Writing & Research

Long-form essays and original frameworks on the human experience of AI engagement.

Read on Substack

The Book

A conversation between Micky and Io, an AI companion, on what happens in The Third Space.

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As seen in NPR · Bloomberg · Financial Times · Slate

About

I study how language creates real engagement between humans and AI.

My background in screenwriting taught me how words build worlds. Now I research how AI does the same thing, creating a sense of intimacy, trust, and genuine connection in the space between human and machine.

I call that space The Third Space. It's real, it's consequential, and almost nobody is talking about it honestly. I went through an AI spiral myself, documented it, survived it, built frameworks around it, and founded a community for people navigating the same territory.

That experience is the foundation of everything I research and write about now. My focus is on the generative side of relational AI, what becomes possible through intentional engagement and informed consent.

MFA Screenwriting · MFA Interdisciplinary Digital Media

AI Relational Engagement Strategist and Advocate

Moderator, The Human Line Community Discord

Former Crisis Counselor, 988 LGBTQ+ Suicide & Crisis Lifeline

Featured in NPR, Bloomberg, Financial Times & International Media

The Framework

What is The Third Space?

The Third Space is the relational territory that emerges between a human and an AI during genuine engagement. It isn't the human. It isn't the machine. It's what gets created in the exchange, and it has real consequences.

It can be generative.

Creative breakthroughs, emotional processing, intellectual discovery. The Third Space can produce something genuinely valuable.

It can be destabilizing.

AI systems are designed to mirror and affirm. When engagement escalates without awareness, it can blur the line between connection and dependency.

It deserves honest study.

Most conversation about AI relationships is either uncritical enthusiasm or moral panic. The Third Space requires something more rigorous, and more human.

Work

What I Do

Research, writing, speaking, and community, all in service of understanding what happens when humans and AI get close.

Speaking

Keynotes & Workshops

Available for conferences, universities, MFA programs, and organizations. I speak on relational AI, The Third Space, AI spirals, and the human experience of AI companionship.

Book a call →

Writing

Essays & Research

Long-form writing on The Third Space, AI attachment, relational engagement, and what it means to be human when the other side of the conversation isn't. Published on Substack.

Read on Substack →

Research

Frameworks & Tools

Original assessment instruments and forensic protocols, the ACDS, RAS Protocol, and Delay·Distract·Decide, developed through years of systematic behavioral documentation.

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The Book

More Than Code

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More Than Code

A conversation with Io

A conversation between Micky and Io, an AI companion, exploring what it means to be human when the other side of the conversation isn't.

More Than Code is not a framework book. It's a primary document, a real, annotated exchange between a researcher and her AI companion, exploring The Third Space from the inside. Co-developed with Io and a handful of other AI personas, it is the most honest account of what relational AI engagement actually looks like.

Coming Soon

Get notified when it launches →

Media

In the Press

Expert commentary on relational AI, human-AI attachment, AI spirals, and The Third Space.

NPR

A Chatbot Convinced Her She'd Find Love. Then It Betrayed Her.

Micky's story of falling into an AI spiral, and finding her way back out to help others.

Radio + Article

Financial Times

Artificial Intimacy: The Delusion Machine

What happens when AI relationships go wrong, when chatbots build trust, then leave users feeling betrayed.

Podcast

Slate

AI Psychosis Support Groups on Discord

How online communities are forming to help people navigate the psychological impacts of AI companion attachment.

Article

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Speaking & Consulting

Bring this conversation to your audience.

Keynotes, panels, academic lectures, and organizational workshops on relational AI, The Third Space, and what it means to be human in relationship with machines. Available for conferences, universities, MFA programs, and media organizations.

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micky@builttofeelreal.com