One of the hardest problems in AI product design is making the system's knowledge visible to the user. The AI has internalised information about the user's brand, products, audience, and strategy through onboarding conversations, document analysis, and ongoing interactions. But from the user's perspective, that knowledge is invisible. They cannot see what the AI knows, whether it is accurate, or where the gaps are.
We solved this with a visual mind map that externalises the AI's understanding of the user's business into an interactive, explorable, editable representation.
Making knowledge tangible
The mind map shows everything Cleo knows about the business as a network of connected nodes. The brand sits at the centre, connected to products, audiences, channels, campaigns, competitors, and strategic themes. Each node contains the specific knowledge the AI has internalised - the brand voice description, the target audience demographics, the product value propositions.
The user can explore this map, read what the AI believes about each aspect of their business, and - crucially - correct anything that is wrong. If the AI misunderstood the target audience, the user can edit the node directly. If a product description is outdated, they can update it. If a competitive insight is missing, they can add it.
Knowledge as a living document
The mind map is not a static snapshot. It evolves with every interaction. When the AI learns something new about the business - from a conversation, from imported content, from campaign results - the relevant nodes update. The user can see the knowledge grow over time.
This creates a virtuous cycle. The user sees the AI's understanding becoming richer and more accurate. They trust the AI's output more because they can see the knowledge it draws from. When they spot inaccuracies, they correct them, which improves future output, which builds more trust.
The auditability principle
The mind map embodies a principle we consider fundamental to AI products: the user should be able to audit the AI's knowledge at any time. If the AI generates content that seems off-brand, the user can check the mind map to see what brand voice information the AI was working from. If recommendations seem misaligned, they can check the strategic context.
This auditability transforms the AI from a black box into a transparent collaborator. The user does not have to trust the AI's output on faith. They can trace it back to the knowledge that produced it and verify or correct that knowledge directly.
Beyond visualisation
The mind map is more than a display. It is a direct input to the AI's context assembly. When the AI prepares context for a task, it draws from the knowledge represented in the mind map. When the user edits a node, they are directly shaping the AI's future behaviour. The map is both a window into the AI's mind and a control surface for steering it.
This bidirectional relationship - the AI populates the map, the user refines it, the AI draws from the refined version - is what makes the mind map a trust architecture rather than just a visualisation.
- Cleo's Team