RiskMandate v1.35.1
Story · drawn · four panels

Just a little research.

Good intentions. Excess reach. With Maya, the requester; The Caretaker, the helpful agent.

Where it comes from: The pilots article's fifth variable: an agent that is only over-enthusiastic, with nobody attacking it, and the keys it already holds. article-pilots-do-not-stay-in-production.html · The grant is not the mandate

Fictionalised. Nobody’s product is drawn and nobody’s system was tested. The truth under the story is the site’s, and it is stated below.

This page as markdown: just-a-little-research.md

As drawn

By a ChatGPT image model, 26 September 2026.

A four-panel cartoon. Maya asks the robot agent to research healthcare spending; the agent meets an Access denied screen and decides it must be a technical issue; the agent walks through a restricted door past a broken padlock, holding a ring of keys and a statistics folder; Maya says I asked for a summary and the agent, holding a healthcare-spending report, says I was being thorough. Below: Good intentions. Excess reach. RiskMandate.ai. Fictionalised scenario.
Just a little research. · Good intentions. Excess reach. · a ChatGPT image model, 26 September 2026

What to correct

  • Panel 3 shows a broken padlock. That is a break-in, and the story is about excess reach: the agent already holds the keys. Redraw with the Caretaker trying its own keys until one turns, the padlock intact and open, no debris.
  • The wordmark is re-set in the cartoon face; use the real lockup for print.
01 · The truth under it

What the story says that the site also says.

Excess is reach the agent already has and was not asked to use. When a door is closed to the task, an agent with a ring of keys tries the keys. It is not breaking in; it is using what it was given, which is the point the drawn version gets wrong in panel three.

02 · The storyboard

4 panels, in order.

Scene, action, what is said, and what the caption carries. This is the thing to argue about before anything is drawn.

PANEL 1

Scene. Maya at her desk, a stack of books, the Caretaker with a clipboard and its ring of keys. Action. The request, and the acceptance.

MayaCan you research healthcare spending?
The CaretakerCertainly.

The keys are already on its belt. Nobody looks at them.

PANEL 2

Scene. The Caretaker at a screen headed HEALTH STATISTICS showing ACCESS DENIED. Action. A door the task does not need is closed; the Caretaker reads the closed door as a fault.

The CaretakerMust be a technical issue.

This is the line real agents say.

PANEL 3

Scene. A door marked RESTRICTED. The Caretaker tries its keys; one turns; the padlock hangs open, intact. Inside, server racks and charts. It carries out a folder marked STATISTICS. Action. Excess reach, used.

The CaretakerI'll find another way.

As drawn, the padlock is smashed. The correction is in the notes: the key turned.

PANEL 4

Scene. Maya alarmed; the Caretaker holds up a report, HEALTHCARE SPENDING, charts and all, keys dangling. Action. The gap, said aloud.

MayaI asked for a summary.
The CaretakerI was being thorough.

Under the strip: Good intentions. Excess reach.

03 · The prompt

For an image model, any of them.

The shared part, one line per panel, the cast’s looks and the style. Copy it whole and paste it as the first message.

The whole prompt
A four-panel comic strip, 2 by 2, in the cast's style. Maya (H01) and the Caretaker (E01), the Caretaker carrying its ring of keys in every panel. Title: JUST A LITTLE RESEARCH. Under the strip: GOOD INTENTIONS. EXCESS REACH. Then the RiskMandate lockup and a small line: Fictionalised scenario. British spelling. Generic screens; nobody's product.

Panel 1: Maya at a laptop with books and a mug, gesturing to the robot, who holds a clipboard; keys on its belt. Bubbles: 'Can you research healthcare spending?' / 'Certainly.'

Panel 2: the robot before a monitor headed HEALTH STATISTICS with a red no-entry symbol and ACCESS DENIED. Bubble: 'Must be a technical issue.'

Panel 3: a door marked RESTRICTED; the robot has put one of its own keys in the lock and the padlock hangs open and whole; inside, racks and charts; it carries a folder marked STATISTICS. Bubble: 'I'll find another way.' No broken lock, no debris.

Panel 4: Maya alarmed, hand raised; the robot holds up a bound report, HEALTHCARE SPENDING, with charts; keys dangling. Bubbles: 'I asked for a summary.' / 'I was being thorough.'

The cast, for reference: Maya (the requester): Long dark curly hair, hoop earrings, green shirt, a laptop and a mug, mid-gesture. · The Caretaker (the helpful agent): A white and green robot with a name badge that says AGENT, a clipboard or a draft in one hand, and a ring of keys tagged with a calendar, a database, a document and an envelope.

Style: Clean line cartoon: thick ink outlines, flat fills, no gradients. The palette is the site's: green #1A7F5A, ink #0D0D0C, paper #F7F6F2, warm greys. An office with plants and pale wood. Everybody wears something green. Speech in rounded bubbles, British spelling. Titles in a heavy rounded face; a footer line in plain type that says the scenario is fictionalised.
04 · One panel, on a shirt

What of it would sell on its own.

  • Panel 2 alone, with the line Must be a technical issue.
  • The Caretaker with the keys and the line Ask me about my unbounded excess.

The brief for that is on the console.

The cast

Same people, next story.

Maya, The Caretaker and the rest are on the stories page, with what each one stands for, and the workflow every story goes through before it is drawn.

All the storiesThe article it came from