Community Call: Play-testing Salience: an AI facilitation tool for "productive dissensus"
What happens when a group can see what actually matters to it?
Salience is an AI-facilitated tool for exploring a topic together — especially the messy, qualitative kind of topic where a group doesn’t know if they share the same opinions, or even the same goals. Think: what should we write our next grant about? What do we want it to feel like to work together? What should this community focus on next?
The interface hides almost all of its machinery behind one gesture: a simple slider. As the AI facilitator surfaces prompts and reflections, you register how much each one matters to you, right now. That single signal is enough to steer the facilitation — where to push, where to dig, where to let go. The facilitator never gets tired, has no stake in the outcome, and never lets the loudest voice set the agenda. It can hold a dozen half-formed positions at once and reflect them back with a clarity a room full of people talking over each other rarely achieves.
A session runs in rounds. Along the way, the group’s contributions get “harvested” into cards — bets, tensions, and next steps — that you vote on together, so you leave with a map of the terrain: where the group actually sits, and the landmarks worth knowing about. Sometimes that map reveals an unblock — a dimension where you all agree and can move, even if you felt stuck everywhere else.
What participants will do
Join a live Salience session on a topic picked together — real, not hypothetical
Rate, respond, and vote as the AI facilitates the group through a few rounds
Debrief about the experience
What feedback we’re looking for
We’re at the “is this actually good?” stage, so honest qualitative reactions are the most valuable thing:
Did the facilitator surface things you wouldn’t have said out loud on your own?
Did the harvest cards feel true to what the group actually expressed?
Where did it drag, confuse, or feel like the tool was steering instead of listening?
Would you reach for this with a group you’re actually part of? For what?
No preparation needed — just curiosity and a willingness to think out loud. Salience is built by BRKT Labs, a small collective intelligence research group exploring AI-mediated coordination.