Scientific background
The scientific approach and methodology of Life Map AI
How spatial reflection, graph models and artificial intelligence help you explore your inner world.
About the author
Anton Bortz — BSW, M.A. Psychology (candidate)
Specialist in addictions and psychotherapy
Anton Bortz is a social worker (BSW) and a psychology master's candidate who has spent years working with people in addiction recovery, crisis and long-term rehabilitation processes.
Life Map AI grew out of that clinical practice: clients repeatedly found it easier to place people, fears, goals and hopes in space than to describe them in linear text. The app turns that observation into a structured, private tool.
More about the founderTheoretical framework
Life Map AI does not belong to a single school. It integrates four established directions into one visual practice.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
Thoughts, emotions and behaviour influence one another. Making them explicit — as separate, nameable objects on a map — supports noticing recurring loops instead of living inside them.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
The inner world can be described as parts with different needs and intentions. A map lets those parts occupy their own place, distance and relationship, without one of them speaking for the whole person.
Narrative therapy
A life story can be re-read and retold. Map versions over time show how the same story is re-composed — what came closer, what moved away, what kept its weight.
Spatial reflection
Distance, size and connection carry meaning that words often blur. Externalising the inner world onto a canvas offloads cognitive effort and makes structure visible.
AI is used only as a reflective layer on top of this structure. It offers hypotheses tied to what you actually placed on the map. It does not diagnose, label or predict, and you remain the final interpreter.
Research and publications
The project is developed openly: a pilot study, a public publication library and ongoing conceptual work.
- Pilot studyA structured pilot with consent, baseline and follow-up stages, examining how people use interactive inner-world mapping over several weeks.View the pilot study →
- Publication libraryArticles on spatial self-reflection, visual thinking, memory, decision-making and the limits of AI interpretation — available in all supported languages.Open the library →
- Research overviewBackground on the method, the interpretation framework and the principles that constrain how AI reflections are generated.Read the overview →
- Cognitive Operating SystemA longer-term direction: a private, user-owned layer for thinking, memory and self-understanding, built on the same principles as the Life Map.Explore the concept →
Ethics and disclaimer
- Life Map AI is a self-reflection tool, not a medical service.
- It does not provide diagnosis, treatment or clinical assessment, and it is not a substitute for professional help.
- AI reflections are hypotheses tied to your own map, never conclusions about who you are.
- Your maps are private by default and belong to you.
- If you are in crisis or at risk, contact local emergency services or a crisis line.
If something on the map feels heavy, that is a reason to talk to a person you trust or a professional — not a reason to keep working alone.