README.md

---
title: The Unspoken Thing
emoji: ❤️
colorFrom: red
colorTo: pink
sdk: gradio
app_file: app.py
pinned: false
---

# ❤️ The Unspoken Thing

**Build Small Hackathon 2026 · 🍄 An Adventure in Thousand Token Wood**

---

In the Thousand Token Wood, strange things happen.

30 AI agents learn to swing an Acrobot — a double pendulum that, in the wrong hands, is chaos. In the right hands, it's a dance.

Over 120 generations, they evolve from random flailing to controlled mastery. Along the way, one of them discovers something.

We hid a shape in the code. A small reward for trajectories that happen to pass through certain points. The AI was never told what this shape is. It was never told to draw a heart. It only knows it found something it wasn't told to find.

**No one told it to draw a heart. It just... did.**

Then it asks for one last swing. Not for points. Just because it can.

---

## How It Works

| Layer | What It Does |
|-------|-------------|
| **Evolutionary AI** | (μ+λ)-ES drives the learning — 30 agents, 120+ generations |
| **Hidden Shape** | A geometric reward hidden in the Acrobot environment. The AI discovers it on its own. |
| **LLM Narrator** | Qwen2.5-7B gives voice to the agent's discovery. The AI doesn't know the word "heart." |
| **The Last Swing** | When training ends, the agent swings one final time. Golden trajectory. No UI. Just the shape. |

**AI is load-bearing at every layer.** Remove evolution → no discovery. Remove hidden reward → no shape. Remove LLM → no voice. The experience IS AI.

---

## Run Locally

```bash
pip install -r requirements.txt
python app.py
# Open http://localhost:7860
```

---

*"We never told the AI to draw a heart. We only defined a hidden reward for trajectories that pass through a specific shape. The AI discovered this shape on its own, after generations of exploration. It has no idea what a 'heart' is. It only knows that this shape gives a reward."*

Built for the Thousand Token Wood. Where strange is good. Where joyful is the bar.