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🧠 What You’ll Learn Today

  • What Anthropic’s new “J-space” research actually found

  • Why it reminds me so much of dyslexic thinking

  • The difference between knowing something and being able to explain it

  • Why AI can be such a powerful thinking partner

  • Five prompts that can help you get ideas out of your head and into the world

Reading Time: 8 Minutes
Coffee Required: ☕️ 1 Cup Minimum

Happy Wednesday.

Summer is in full swing here.

Little League Baseball season wrapped up a couple of weeks ago with all-stars, which was its own kind of relief and its own kind of quiet.

And Kailer is starting his 6th-grade year-round school again this week, so half our house is back on a school schedule while the rest of us are still adjusting to summer rhythm.

I want to be honest about something before I get into today's topic.

I have tried to write this edition before.

Somewhere in the pile of drafts I mentioned in Edition 356, there is an earlier attempt at this exact article. I lost it.

Between the end of the season, the shift into summer, and everything else moving at once, it got buried.

So I am writing it again, from scratch, because the idea would not leave me alone.

That is a fitting way to start, actually.

Because today's topic is about exactly this kind of thing.

What gets lost, what surfaces, and what your brain actually has access to at any given moment.

Good Morning, Friends

It’s 5 AM.

I’ve got my coffee.

The house is quiet.

And for what feels like the third or fourth time, I’m trying to write this newsletter.

Not because I don’t know what I want to say.

Because I know exactly what I want to say.

I just couldn’t get it out.

If you’re dyslexic, there’s a good chance you’ve experienced this too.

You can see the answer.

You can feel the answer.

You know the answer.

But when someone asks you to explain it?

The words disappear.

Well, this week I stumbled across an AI research paper from Anthropic that made me stop mid-sip and say:

“Wait a second… that’s it.”

Not because it solved dyslexia.

Not because it explained the human brain.

But because it gave me language for something I’ve been trying to describe for years.

The Conversation I’ve Been Having My Whole Life

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve sat in meetings knowing exactly where the problem was.

I could see the pattern.

I could see how all the pieces connected.

I could see the solution.

But when it was my turn to explain it?

I sounded like I hadn’t thought about it at all.

The thinking wasn’t the problem.

The translation was.

For years I thought that was just me.

Then I started talking to other dyslexic entrepreneurs, creators, parents, teachers, and leaders.

Same story.

Different people.

Different careers.

Same experience.

We often know more than we can easily explain.

That’s why this research hit me so hard.

What Anthropic Actually Found

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Anthropic’s researchers discovered something inside large language models that they call J-space.

Don’t worry about the fancy name.

Here’s the simple version.

AI models process a massive amount of information every second.

Most of that work happens behind the scenes.

It’s automatic.

Invisible.

The model uses the information without ever talking about it.

But researchers discovered a smaller workspace where certain information gets pulled forward.

Information enters this space when the AI needs to:

  • Think about something deliberately

  • Explain its reasoning

  • Solve a new problem

  • Communicate what it knows

In other words, there seems to be a difference between:

Processing information

and

Being able to talk about that information

When I read that, I nearly spilled my coffee.

Because that’s exactly what I’ve been trying to explain about dyslexic thinking.

The Part That Stopped Me in My Tracks

The researchers found that AI models can use information correctly without being able to explain it.

Let that sink in.

The model knows.

The model uses the knowledge.

The model performs accurately.

But the information never reaches the part of the system that can report it.

Sound familiar?

Because it sure does to me.

As dyslexic thinkers, we process an incredible amount of information automatically.

We recognize patterns.

We connect ideas.

We read situations.

We see relationships between things that others miss.

A lot of that happens naturally.

Fast.

Almost instantly.

Then somebody says:

“Can you explain how you came to that conclusion?”

And suddenly things get messy.

Not because the thinking was wrong.

Because translating the thinking into words is a completely different skill.

Why This Matters

I want to be careful here.

I’m not saying AI is conscious.

I’m not saying Anthropic discovered dyslexia inside a machine.

That’s not the point.

The point is this:

This research helps explain something many of us experience every day.

There is a difference between:

  • Knowing

  • Explaining

There is a difference between:

  • Understanding

  • Communicating

There is a difference between:

  • Thinking

  • Translating

And for many dyslexic thinkers, that gap can feel enormous.

The exciting part?

That gap can be bridged.

Why Dyslexic.ai Exists

When I started Dyslexic.ai, I wasn’t trying to build another tech company.

I wasn’t trying to chase the latest AI trend.

I was trying to solve a problem that had followed me my entire life.

How do you help someone communicate ideas that already exist in their head?

Back then, I didn’t have words like J-space.

I didn’t know researchers would eventually discover something similar inside AI models.

I just knew there was a gap.

A gap between knowing and saying.

And AI was the first tool I’d ever found that consistently helped me close it.

Not because it thought for me.

Because it helped me express what was already there.

That’s a huge difference.

Stop Trying to Become Smarter

This might be the biggest takeaway from today’s newsletter.

Most of us spend years believing we need to think harder.

Study harder.

Push harder.

Become smarter.

What if that’s not the problem?

What if the problem isn’t your intelligence?

What if the problem isn’t your creativity?

What if the problem is simply that you need a better bridge between what you know and what you can communicate?

That’s how I think about AI now.

Not as a replacement for thinking.

As a bridge.

A bridge between ideas and expression.

A bridge between insight and communication.

A bridge between what already exists in your mind and what finally reaches the page.

What Can You Do Right Now?

Here’s a simple challenge for this week.

The next time you’re struggling to explain something, pause.

Ask yourself:

“Do I actually not know this?”

Or…

“Do I know it, but I’m struggling to explain it?”

Those are two very different problems.

If it’s the second one, don’t beat yourself up.

Build a better bridge.

Use AI to interview you.

Use voice notes.

Use questions.

Use conversation.

Find a process that helps pull the idea out.

Because chances are, the idea is already there.

Steal This Prompt

If you’ve ever said:

“I know what I mean, I just can’t explain it.”

Try this:

I know something clearly in my head, but I’m having trouble putting it into words. Ask me one question at a time to help pull the idea out. Don’t suggest answers. Just help me uncover what I already know. After several questions, summarize what you think I’m trying to say and ask if it matches my thinking.

Simple.

Powerful.

And honestly, it’s one of the most useful ways I’ve found to work with AI.

One Last Thought

If you’ve spent years believing you weren’t smart enough, articulate enough, or educated enough, I want you to hear this.

Maybe the problem was never your intelligence.

Maybe the problem was never your ideas.

Maybe nobody ever handed you the right bridge.

That’s why I’m so excited about where AI is heading.

Not because it can think for us.

Because it can help us express the thinking that was already there.

And for dyslexic thinkers?

That changes everything.

Until next time,

Matt “Coach IV” Ivey
Founder, Dyslexic.ai

Dictated, not typed. Obviously.

TL;DR- For My Fellow Skimmers

  • Anthropic discovered a special workspace inside AI models called J-space.

  • It separates what the model processes from what it can explain.

  • Dyslexic thinkers often experience something similar.

  • The challenge isn’t always understanding.

  • Often it’s translating understanding into words.

  • AI can act as a bridge between knowing and communicating.

  • The goal isn’t to become smarter.

  • The goal is to express what you already know.

More from Dyslexic AI: 🧠 Try the Dyslexic AI GPT — A custom AI assistant built for how your brain works 📄 Read the Research — The Cognitive Partner Model white paper 🎯 Work with Matt 1:1 — 90-minute Cognitive Partner Strategy Sessions 📬 Share this newsletter — Know someone who thinks differently? Send them this.

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