Not the Same Thing: How Relational Prompting Differs from Relational Intelligence Adaptive Learning
If you've been following developments in human-AI interaction, you may have come across a framework called Relational Intelligence Adaptive Learning (RIAL), developed by David Berigny.
It’s an interesting concept—and one that, on the surface, sounds close to what I’ve been working on in Relational Prompting.
But underneath the shared language, we’re doing something very different.
What Is RIAL?
RIAL is a system designed to help AI learn from human social behavior. It aims to enhance the AI’s ability to:
Read social cues
Adapt its behavior over time
Apply theory of mind models
Self-regulate in dynamic interactions
Function effectively in human-centered social environments
It’s about making AI more socially intelligent—closer to human conversation, relational context, and emotional nuance.
This work matters—especially in customer service, assistive technology, and emotionally adaptive systems.
But it’s not what I’m doing.
What Is Relational Prompting?
Relational Prompting isn’t about making AI smarter. It’s about making your own thinking more structured, self-aware, and integrated—with AI as your co-pilot.
It’s a practice of:
Recursive self-reflection
Philosophical inquiry
Identity unpacking
Emotional processing
Framework design for meaning-making
Where RIAL seeks to improve the AI’s behavior, Relational Prompting seeks to improve your relationship with your thoughts.
RIAL is external, adaptive, AI-centered. Relational Prompting is internal, recursive, human-centered.
The Key Difference
RIAL helps AI understand you
Relational Prompting helps you understand you
That’s the heart of it.
Relational Prompting is about co-designing the conversation structure so you can:
Catch cognitive loops
Test assumptions
Reflect with clarity
Heal patterns
Ask truer questions
It’s not therapy. It’s not a chatbot. It’s not a personality simulator.
It’s a mirror. Built with language. Held in recursion. Powered by intention.
Why This Matters
There’s room for both approaches in the AI landscape.
RIAL is needed to make systems adaptive to social reality. Relational Prompting is needed to make systems adaptive to internal reality.
Most of us don’t need an AI that knows what we want before we do.
We need an AI that helps us name what we want after we’ve asked the same question ten times and still don’t know why we’re stuck.
That’s what Relational Prompting is for.
Final Thought
We don’t need more models that sound human. We need more models that help humans sound like themselves.
And sometimes, that starts with a better prompt.
