FAQs

Have questions about Pathos X and DecodifyAI? Find out how they protect people in toxic work environments, decode behavior, and transform workplace dynamics.

General Information

What is DecodifyAI?

DecodifyAI is a pioneering discourse analysis tool that analyzes interpersonal communication, identifying both prosocial behaviors like collaboration and support, and dissocial behaviors such as undermining and manipulation.

Users see the motivations behind words and learn how to recognize individual tendencies by analyzing dimensions such as power dynamics, emotional empathy, humility, and more.

DecodifyAI helps people protect their hard-earned careers by staying ahead of conflicts, biases, and subtle (and not so subtle) manipulations.

DecodifyAI screenshot

What kind of communication can I analyze?

Any type of human expression or interaction can be analyzed, from workplace discussions to heated political debates, celebrity feuds, and group rivalries, including:

- Meetings
- Emails
- Chat logs
- Impromptu conversations
- Livestreams
- Podcasts
- Forum threads
- Skeets and Tweets

Input methods

Who is DecodifyAI designed for?

DecodifyAI is designed for professionals in the workplace, however it's useful for anyone who wants to understand human behavior in general, or gain insight into specific encounters.

It's also beneficial to journalists, researchers, and influencers interested in analyzing social dynamics to add additional dimensions to their work.

How does DecodifyAI work?

DecodifyAI evaluates the content of your day-to-day interactions based on dimensions like power dynamics, rivalry, and bias, as well as a 1-10 rating for each person's
prosocial
Prosocial
Behaviors that are positive, constructive, and intended to benefit others. These actions help build healthy relationships, foster cooperation, and promote well-being.

Prosocial expressions:
- Emotional Empathy
- Boundary Recognition
- Compassion / Kindness
- Helping / Support / Altruism
- Fairness / Reciprocity / Justice
- Honesty / Candor / Authenticity
- Respect / Decency
- Humility
and dissocial
Dissocial
Behaviors that are negative, harmful, and destructive to relationships and social harmony. These actions often involve aggression and a disregard for the well-being of others.

Dissocial expressions:
- Manipulation
- Boundary Violation
- Emotional Fuel Harvesting
- Contempt / Entitlement / Superiority
- Ingratiation / Sycophancy
- Derogation / Exclusion
- Blame / Scapegoating
- Undermining / Sabotage
- Hostility / Antagonism
- Intimidation / Coercion
- Humiliation / Cruelty
- Parasitism / Exploitation
contributions.


Using advanced natural language processing algorithms DecodifyAI generates detailed reports that help identify problematic behaviors and provides objective, data-driven insights into your interactions.

Want a deeper understanding of how DecodifyAI works? Check out the How It Works and Example Analysis pages.

What dimensions does DecodifyAI analyze?

DecodifyAI evaluates communication for a wide range of dimensions, including:

- Assertion of control
Assertion of Control
The act of employing the tactics of influence, social pressure, gatekeeping, authority, leverage, or coercion to shape the perceptions and behavior of others.

These assertions can be either constructive or destructive - for example, advocating for a scapegoated colleague in a positive manner, or using control to undermine and dominate others.
- Bias and discrimination
Bias and Discrimination
Bias is an unrecognized prejudice that leads to skewed beliefs and attitudes, creating blind spots in judgment.

When biases influence behavior, they result in discrimination - unfair treatment that limits opportunities and outcomes for certain individuals or groups.

Discrimination can also be intentional, not just the product of unconscious biases.
- Emotional empathy
Emotional Empathy
The capacity to deeply connect with and experience the emotions of others. Different than behavioral or cognitive empathy, emotional empathy goes beyond simply recognizing what someone is feeling, it's actually experiencing similar emotions in response to their situation.
- Emotional fuel harvesting
Emotional Fuel Harvesting
A dissocial behavioral pattern in which individuals deliberately provoke emotional responses - both positive and negative - from others. This compulsive behavior serves to shore up a constantly disintegrating sense of self by confirming their impact on others, often at the expense of those being targeted.

Positive Emotion Harvesting: Seeking attention, praise, or admiration to reinforce beliefs of one's relevance, entitlement, and superiority.

Negative Emotion Harvesting: Provoking responses such as frustration, anger, sorrow, and fear to reinforce one's sense of strength, superiority, and control. This form of harvesting is often characterized by behaviors like gaslighting, passive-aggressiveness, and deliberate antagonism, with the harvester deriving satisfaction from the emotional turmoil they induce.

Key Characteristics:
‍
Exploitation of Vulnerabilities: Emotional triggers are often exploited, using knowledge of others' values or insecurities to elicit desired reactions.

Impact on Others: Those targeted may feel emotionally consumed (e.g. sucked dry) and coerced into responding in ways that serve the harvester's needs.

Power Dynamics: Occurs more often in environments with imbalanced power dynamics, where targets feel compelled to avoid conflict and harvesters face little accountability for their misdeeds..
- Group dynamics
Group Dynamics
The patterns of interaction and relationships within a group, including how roles, behaviors, and communications affect the group's function and cohesion. Healthy group dynamics feature trust, camaraderie, and loyalty.
- Humility
Humility
The quality of being modest and respectful, recognizing one's limitations, and valuing the contributions of others without seeking to dominate.
- Manipulation (benign & malign)
Manipulation
The act of guiding others' emotions, perceptions, or actions to achieve desired outcomes, usually without the target's awareness.

Benign: The use of inconspicuous, seemingly harmless tactics to influence or control, often with hidden self-serving intentions. These actions appear innocuous but can lead to deeper manipulation, such as the favoritism used in triangulation to create division.

Malign: Influencing others through deceitful or coercive means for selfish gain and at the expense of others' well-being.
- Power dynamics
Power Dynamics
The underlying forces that influence how power is distributed and exercised within relationships or groups, shaping interactions through influence, authority, and control over access to resources.

Power dynamics significantly impact individual agency, group decision-making, and overall outcomes, determining who holds influence and how conflicts are resolved.

An individual's footing within the power hierarchy - whether secure or insecure - significantly affects their behavior and interactions. Those with secure footing experience confidence and stability, enabling them to take risks, collaborate, and advocate for others, while those with insecure footing may adopt defensive strategies and resort to appeasement or manipulation to maintain their position.
- Rivalry
Rivalry
Fueled by comparison and external validation, rivalry is the drive to achieve superiority over others through domination and devaluation.

Unlike healthy competitiveness - which centers on self-improvement and personal excellence - rivalry thrives on undermining others to elevate oneself. Rooted in envy, it perceives another's success as a personal loss.
- Toxicity
Toxicity
A persistent pattern of harmful behaviors and interactions that degrade trust, social safety, and dignity. It manifests through manipulation, exclusion, blame-shifting, and a lack of accountability, creating a climate of fear, confusion, and emotional churn. Unlike simple conflict or disagreement, toxicity is defined by pervasive and ingrained culture-norms that devalue individuals or groups.

At its core, toxicity thrives on power imbalances, fostering conditions where dissocial behaviors are tolerated and rewarded. The result is an environment where self-preservation takes precedence over both professional performance and human decency.

Can I use DecodifyAI outside of work?

Yes. All types of relationships can be analyzed. Simply choose the appropriate Relationship Context option:

Interaction contexts

Relationship Context: Allows DecodifyAI to frame its analysis according to the nature of the relationship.

Relationship Depth: Ensures DecodifyAI understands the familiarity and emotional context between participants.

Relationship Hierarchy: Enables DecodifyAI to interpret the ways in which power is distributed and exercised.

Communication Type: Helps DecodifyAI tailor its analysis to the format of the conversation.

What does Pathos X mean?

Pathos X stands for pathos spectrum, which refers to the range of the human capacity for emotional empathy. The word pathos (from Greek: πάθος) is a synonym for emotional empathy. The pathos spectrum consists of three segments:
‍
∘On one end are other-focused people, who are acutely sensitive to the feelings and needs of others but may neglect their own well-being
∘On the opposite end are self-focused people, who prioritize self-interest and operate from a defensive stance, constantly assessing their environment for threats
∘In the middle are balanced-focus people, who are able to care for others while also protecting themselves
Our position on the pathos spectrum is the key determinant of our behavior, driving how we perceive, interpret, and interact with the world and those around us.
‍
This concept is key to behavioral literacy, a skill that allows people to understand behavior and interpret social dynamics with a high degree of accuracy. For more insights, sign up for our newsletter and join the Pathos X #freefromharm mission.

Does Pathos X provide enterprise products?

Yes. The ultimate goal of Pathos X is to make every workplace free from harm. The most scalable way of achieving this goal is to provide cultural support services directly to forward-thinking, ethical organizations.

The Pathos X enterprise offerings include both internal-organization and customer-facing cultural support:

∘Organizations aiming to optimize their culture have the option to provide low-cost, individual subscriptions to their employees, or to create a custom solution tailored to their values, principles, and code of conduct.
∘Businesses seeking to enhance their social media platforms, collaboration tools, or community-driven apps can streamline moderation efforts by automatically detecting and flagging dissocial behavior, reducing manual oversight while fostering healthier interactions.

Subscription Plans and Features

What subscription plans are available?

DecodifyAI offers several subscription plans for individuals, each catering to different needs and environments:

πŸ₯Ί -> 😎 If you operate in a moderately supportive environment and want to identify and manage colleagues with dissocial tendencies, build strategic alliances, and boost your influence the Protector plan is perfect for you. Includes 200 credits per month.
πŸ’€ -> 😎 If you're in an unsupportive or toxic work environment and need to protect yourself from blame, bias, manipulation, and devaluation the Defender plan is designed just for you. Includes 500 credits per month.
🧐 -> Λ—Λ‹ΛπŸ˜ŽΛŽΛŠΛ— If you're a journalist, researcher, or just fascinated by human behavior and want to expand your impact by leveraging vast insights into social dynamics choose the Super User plan. Includes 1000 credits per month.

What features does each plan include?


All plans include these features:


∘Capture and transcribe interactions instantly with a single button press β€” perfect for impromptu meetings, calls, and conversations. Additional options include file upload and text input. The mobile app and browser extension are coming soon!
∘Unbiased, thorough assessments with objective analysis of prosocial and dissocial contributions.
‍
∘Unlimited lifetime storage of interactions and analyses for future reference.
‍

Plan specific features:

Navigator Plan: Includes 100 credits for ~10 analyses per month.

Protector Plan: Includes 200 credits for ~20 analyses per month, plus curated behavioral literacy content to help you navigate your professional relationships with confidence.

Defender Plan: Includes 500 credits for ~50 analyses per month, plus advanced re-analysis features to track how relationships are changing over time, and curated content.
‍
Super User Plan: Includes 1000 credits for ~100 analyses per month, plus copyright ownership of analyses, curated content, and re-analysis features.


πŸ‘‰ Are you analytical?
- Then you'll appreciate the comprehensive plans page here.
- Alternatively, find the high-level overview here.

What file upload formats are supported?

DecodifyAI supports text, audio, and video file formats including:

.txt
.doc
.docx
.pdf
.wav
.mp3
.mp4

Is my data secure?

Yes. Data security is a top priority for Pathos X. All data is encrypted and stored securely in the cloud. We adhere to strict data privacy and security policies to ensure your information is safe.

Pathos X does not, and will never utilize user data for LLM training. Your personal data and DecodifyAI's analyses will remain private to you.

Can I integrate DecodifyAI with other tools?

Yes. Pathos X offers integration capabilities with popular tools and platforms via API. This allows you to seamlessly incorporate DecodifyAI's analysis into your existing applications and workflows.

How DecodifyAI Can Help You

How can DecodifyAI assist in largely supportive workplaces?

Even in a supportive environment, DecodifyAI helps people deepen their emotional intelligence and stay ahead of potential issues by giving them the ability to interpret underlying intentions, preventing small problems from becoming bigger obstacles.

Before DecodifyAI, After DecodifyAI
Image credit: "Pokemon" Β© The PokΓ©mon Company, Game Freak, and Nintendo, used under fair use for commentary and parody purposes.

How does DecodifyAI help in moderately supportive work environments?

In moderately supportive environments DecodifyAI helps people identify dissocial behaviors like manipulation and subtle undermining, which may otherwise go unnoticed. These insights help you effectively navigate power dynamics, build credibility, and advance your career.

How does DecodifyAI protect people in toxic work environments?

Scapegoated

For people in unsupportive or toxic work environments, DecodifyAI is a lifeline. It helps them navigate dangerous power dynamics, protect themselves from devaluation, and document interactions for the future. By analyzing and documenting ongoing toxic interactions, people can act before their hard-earned career is sabotaged.

Career Protection and Growth

How can DecodifyAI protect your career?

DecodifyAI helps you stay ahead of work politics by identifying who holds influence, which behaviors and traits are rewarded and punished (which informs you to what the actual values are, as opposed to professed values), and who controls access to key resources. With these insights, you can make informed decisions about how to navigate power dynamics, avoid becoming a target, and protect your career path.

Protected

How does DecodifyAI help protect you by documenting interactions?

With its advanced language pattern analysis capability, DecodifyAI empowers people to document their interactions, serving as a powerful C.Y.A. tool β€” providing a form of protective insurance, available if ever needed.

These transcriptions and analyses build a valuable record of behavior patterns, helping people safeguard their reputation and professional future. You've worked SO hard to build your career, shouldn't you be protecting it?

DecodifyAI dashboard

Transcribing Interactions

Disclaimer: The information in this FAQ does not constitute legal advice. Laws around transcription, consent, and workplace privacy vary by jurisdiction, and each individual is responsible for understanding the legal requirements specific to their location.

While transparency is the best practice in most situations, there may be additional protections for employees in hostile workplaces under whistleblower laws or the National Labor Relations Act. Always verify the specific laws for your state and consult legal counsel if necessary.

Is it legal for me to transcribe my workplace interactions?

Yes. As an employee in the U.S., transcribing workplace conversations is both legal and a federally protected right, however you should be aware of privacy and consent concerns. If the conversation includes sensitive content like confidential HR discussions consent may be needed in two-party states.

When do I need consent?

In many cases, transcription doesn't require explicit consent. However, depending on two factors - your location (one-party or two-party state) and the expectation of privacy, it may be necessary to inform other participants.

In contexts such as group meetings, or in organizations where transcription is a common practice (e.g., using Zoom's AI Companion feature), there isn't an expectation of privacy so consent may not be needed.

Additionally, in some cases whistleblower protections may allow you to transcribe without needing consent. Always review your state's laws, as well as any relevant workplace policies, and ensure you handle information responsibly.

What is the difference between one-party and two-party consent states?

In one-party consent states, you can transcribe a conversation without consent if you are part of the conversation.

In two-party consent states, both parties must agree to the transcription if there is the expectation of privacy because the conversation involves private or sensitive topics such as HR discussions.

What are the two-party consent states?

California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Washington (updated November 2024)

What's the best way to ask for consent?

Requesting consent to transcribe a workplace conversation can be done discreetly and professionally without discomfort. It's best to ask for consent at the start of a conversation. Here are a few phrasing options to make the request feel natural:

During a meeting setup: "Hey, I'll be transcribing this conversation to help keep track of everything. Does that work for everyone?"

In a larger group setting: "For accuracy, I plan to transcribe our discussion. Let me know if there are any concerns."

Situations where it's common practice: "Okay to transcribe?"

By making the request in a matter-of-fact way and aligning it with the benefits of transcription (e.g., accuracy, record-keeping), you can obtain consent without drawing unnecessary attention to the process.

Can my employer prevent me from transcribing workplace conversations?

No. While some employers may have policies that regulate the documentation of workplace conversations, especially in relation to sensitive discussions, your right to transcribe in hostile environments is protected by U.S. federal law, which supersedes state law. Make sure to review your workplace's policies on documenting conversations, and if you are transcribing in good faith for legitimate reasons, your employer cannot lawfully prevent it.

Can I use transcriptions as evidence?

Yes. Transcription serves as documentation for workplace issues like discrimination and misconduct. Under whistleblower laws and the National Labor Relations Act, employees have the right to gather evidence of hostile working conditions, including through transcription.

U.S. federal protections override state laws allowing employees documenting hostile workplaces to transcribe without notifying others. However, be sure to understand the nuances of your local laws and consult legal counsel when necessary.

Accountability Mechanisms
and #freefromharm

How does DecodifyAI protect people in destructive environments?

DecodifyAI is a powerful and effective accountability mechanism. Individuals now have the ability to protect themselves from toxic work environments by documenting and analyzing their interactions.

This new class of AI discourse analysis tools will disrupt today's status quo, forcing full attention be paid to problems that have previously been dismissed with ineffectual action. Long term, the large-scale risk of reputational damage and legal consequences will drive changes in corporate policies and practices.

I can has safe werk? #freefromharm

What is the #freefromharm mission?

This mission is the guiding principle of Pathos X, with the goal of ensuring:
EVERY WORKPLACE, FREE FROM HARM


It focuses on creating safe work environments where devaluing behaviors, such as discrimination, harassment, and coercion, are not tolerated.

Through resources like DecodifyAI, Pathos X empowers individuals to recognize and document dissocial behavior.Β The mission emphasizes that every workplace must be:
‍

1. Safe

2. Equipped with effective accountability mechanisms, ideally provided internally by the organization, or when necessary, provided externally by Pathos X
‍

By ensuring toxic behavior is quickly noticed and effectively addressed,Β Pathos X aims to reshape organizational culture. If you agreeΒ that every workplace should be free from harm, please join usΒ in solidarity by:
‍

thank β™‘ you

Still have questions? πŸ€”

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send us a message!