Help shape Sylou: an open source & new kind of AI writing tool

Sylou is a writing platform that makes human-AI collaboration transparent. Instead of detecting whether AI was used, Sylou tracks *how* you and AI worked together and assesses the respective contributions of each, producing a shareable report you can attach to any document.

We've just released the platform as open source and would love your input. This takes just a few minutes.

Your responses are collected via Tally (EU-hosted). If you decide to share your email, we will only use it to send you updates about Sylou. You can request deletion at any time by emailing contact@sylou.eu.

Q1 - Which of these frustrations resonates most with you?

I use AI to help me write, but I have no way to show that the thinking was mine

I want to encourage thoughtful, critical use of AI, but there's no framework to make the underlying cognitive processes visible and assessable

AI detection tools are unreliable: they flag legitimate work and miss actual misuse

I want to use AI for writing but I'm unsure what's appropriate or acceptable

None of these, I'm just curious about Sylou

Q2 - What best describes your primary role?

University or higher-ed educator or researcher

Secondary school teacher

Student (any level)

Professional writer, journalist, or editor

Communications or marketing professional

Manager or executive

Q3 - Which AI writing tools do you currently use? (Select all that apply)

Grammarly (including Grammarly AI)

Jasper, Writesonic, or similar

I don't use AI writing tools

Q4 - How important is it to you, or to people who read your work, to be able to show how AI was involved in a document?

Critical: it's already required or expected in my context

Important: it would help build trust or credibility

Nice to have: I see the value but it's not urgent

Not important: I don't think anyone cares

Q5 - Rank these Sylou features by how valuable they'd be to you

(drag to reorder, most valuable at top; move anything you consider unnecessary to the bottom)

Use the up and down arrow keys to change the rank.

FLOW assessment: a detailed report analysing your intellectual contribution on the finished work across research, ideas, structure, and prose

FLOW collaboration style: shareable and categorising your collaboration into one of sixteen types (not unlike personality-type frameworks like Myers-Briggs)

Writing replay: a step-by-step playback showing user-AI collaboration throughout a project

Transparency badge: a shareable badge to attach to finished documents

Transparent AI assistant: an AI writing partner with access to your writing at your choice

Tutor mode: AI guides without giving answers, for learning contexts

>>> SEPARATOR LAYER <<< (Move what you consider unnecessary below this)

Q6 - Sylou will be released as open source, meaning the code is freely available for anyone to use, modify, and deploy.

In practice, this means you (or your organisation) would need to set it up on your own server to use it, unless a hosted version becomes available later.

Open source is important to me and I'm comfortable setting up my own server

Open source is important to me, but I'd only use Sylou if it were already hosted or set up by my organisation

Open source isn't important to me, but I'm comfortable setting up my own server

Open source isn't important to me, and I'd only use Sylou if it were readily available or hosted by my organisation

Q7 - If a hosted version of Sylou were available as a subscription service, would you be interested?

In practice: (i) you could subscribe to Sylou directly instead of having to set up your own server and manage your LLMs & APIs; (ii) Sylou would remain open-source, and any subscription-based version if launched would exist alongside.

Yes, to support Sylou, or to avoid having to set up a server

Yes, but only in the form of one-time payments in exchange for tokens without any time restrictions

No, not interested

Q8 - If your organisation were to adopt a writing transparency tool, roughly how many people might use it?

Just me (individual use)

2–10 people (small team)

10–50 people (department)

50–200 people (faculty or division)

200+ people (institution-wide)

Q9 - Rank the possible future features below by how valuable they'd be to you?

Use the up and down arrow keys to change the rank.

Local Sylou: the Sylou stack installed and available offline on your machine, with locally installed LLMs (new set-up)

Sylou running with custom model server including your self-hosted open LLMs (new set-up)

Visual representation of AI-user collaboration, directly on the final text itself

Multiple FLOW methodology layers for very large texts (e.g. for a novel, per-chapter analysis combining into a global analysis)

Idea journey: a FLOW assessment focused on a specific idea or argument, tracing how it formed and evolved throughout the writing

Teacher dashboard: capacity to create assignment rules, custom AI behaviour settings, and share them with students

Integration with Learning Management Systems (LMS), such as Canvas, Moodle and other LMS platforms

Collaborative projects: multiple users working on one project together, transparently

Private report sharing: sharing FLOW reports only with specific team or group members

Keystroke timing metadata log: detection of typing patterns inconsistent with manual human input (unnaturally uniform cadence, sustained superhuman speed, or zero-correction sequences) for detection of AI computer-use agents

>>> SEPARATOR LAYER <<< (Move what you consider unnecessary below this)

Q10 - What's the single biggest thing that would make you want to use Sylou, and/or the single biggest reason you wouldn't?

Q11 - Would you like to receive occasional updates about Sylou?

Yes, keep me posted

(required if opting in)

Your responses are collected via Tally (EU-hosted, Belgium). Your email will only be used to send you updates about Sylou. You can request deletion at any time by emailing contact@sylou.eu. We don't share your data with third parties.