Adaptive Endocrine Transformer Heads with Emotional Regulation
An Astrocyte-Modulated Language Model Architecture Employing Neurochemical Conductance Gating, Context-Adaptive Head Generation, Cascading Biological Hierarchy, and Intrinsic Pharmacokinetic Memory
USPTO Provisional Patent Application
"Every existing AI architecture models only the neuron. We built the other half of the brain."
The human brain contains equal numbers of neurons and astrocytes. AI has been building with half the blueprint.
The AETHER architecture introduces astrocyte networks to artificial intelligence. In biological brains, astrocytes are the modulatory glial network that governs which neurons fire, how strongly, and in what temporal patterns through neurochemical signaling — without modifying synaptic connections.
Definition — Astrocyte Network: A series of Mixture-of-Expert (MoE) transformer modules that alter the internal state of a base large language model (LLM) neural network through neurochemical conductance gating. The base model's weights are never modified — the astrocyte network alters the state (embeddings, activations, attention patterns) flowing through the base model, not the model itself.
The base transformer is the neuron — it provides language competence. The AETHER layer is the astrocyte — it modulates that competence through neurochemical state. The neuron is frozen. The astrocyte is the innovation.
The present application extends and further specifies the disclosure of 63/962,385 (filed January 17, 2026) to include:
"A neuron cannot produce dopamine without tyrosine. The architecture recapitulates the biochemistry."
Each tier gates the tier above it via Hodgkin-Huxley conductance — the architecture doesn't skip levels.
Neuroactive amino acids that serve as the molecular substrate for all downstream neurochemical pathways. Amino acid availability directly constrains neurotransmitter synthesis.
| Head | Amino Acid | Biological Function | Computational Function |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | Phenylalanine | Essential amino acid; precursor to Tyrosine | Upstream gate for catecholamine cascade |
| A2 | Glycine | Inhibitory NT; NMDA co-agonist | Direct inhibitory conductance; E/I balance |
| A3 | Aspartate | Excitatory NT; NMDA agonist | Excitatory conductance |
| A4 | Histidine | Precursor to histamine | Wakefulness, attention gating |
| A5 | Arginine | Precursor to nitric oxide | Neural signaling, throughput modulation |
| A6 | Serine | Precursor to D-serine | Synaptic plasticity; learning rate gating |
| A7 | Cysteine | Precursor to glutathione | Neuroprotective gating |
| A8 | Methionine | Precursor to SAMe | Methylation gating; epigenetic-analog modulation |
Precursor molecules converted into active neurotransmitters, analogous to ion concentration gradients establishing the electrochemical foundation for H-H gating.
| Head | Precursor | Downstream Products |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tyrosine | → Dopamine → Norepinephrine → Epinephrine |
| 2 | Tryptophan | → Serotonin → Melatonin |
| 3 | Glutamate | → GABA (via GAD enzyme) |
| 4 | Choline | → Acetylcholine |
| 5 | Cholesterol | → Cortisol, Oxytocin (steroid pathway) |
| 6 | POMC | → β-Endorphin, ACTH → Cortisol |
Active neurotransmitters functioning as primary conductance channels, directly analogous to ion-specific channels (Na+, K+, Cl-) in the Hodgkin-Huxley model.
| Head | NT | H-H Analogue | Gating Function |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Dopamine | Na+ fast activation (m gate) | Salience detection, reward signaling |
| 8 | Norepinephrine | Na+ sustained activation | Arousal, vigilance |
| 9 | Serotonin | K+ delayed rectification (n gate) | Mood stabilization |
| 10 | GABA | K+ fast inhibition | Direct suppression of non-essential channels |
| 11 | Oxytocin | Slow modulatory | Bonding, trust — slow social processing |
| 12 | Cortisol | Inactivation (h gate) | Threat response — inactivates non-essential channels |
| 13 | Endorphin | Leak conductance (g_L) | Reward/pain modulation baseline |
| 14 | Acetylcholine | Modulatory | Attention, learning — gain modulation |
The same neurotransmitter produces different effects depending on which brain region it acts upon. Tier 3 implements this regional specificity.
| Head | Brain Region | Function | Gated By (Primary) |
|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | Broca's Area | Language production, syntax | Dopamine, Acetylcholine |
| R2 | Wernicke's Area | Language comprehension | Serotonin, Acetylcholine |
| R3 | Prefrontal Cortex | Executive function, working memory | Dopamine, Norepinephrine |
| R4 | Amygdala | Threat detection, emotional valence | Cortisol, GABA, Norepinephrine |
| R5 | Hippocampus | Memory formation, context binding | Acetylcholine, Cortisol |
| R6 | Motor Cortex | Motor planning, action sequencing | Dopamine, GABA |
| R7 | Angular Gyrus | Reading, cross-modal integration | Serotonin, Acetylcholine |
| R8 | Anterior Cingulate | Error monitoring, conflict detection | Norepinephrine, Dopamine |
| R9 | Insula | Interoception, empathy | Oxytocin, Serotonin |
| R10 | Basal Ganglia | Habit formation, reward processing | Dopamine, GABA |
| R11 | Cerebellum | Timing, sequence prediction | Norepinephrine, GABA |
| R12 | Temporal Cortex | Auditory, semantic memory | Acetylcholine, Serotonin |
"When cortisol rises, the Amygdala gate opens while the Prefrontal Cortex gate narrows."
Stress-induced cognitive narrowing. The gating isn't programmed — it emerges from the conductance dynamics.
Each neurochemical transformer head implements a dynamic gating function — NOT sigmoid:
| Property | Sigmoid Gate | H-H Conductance Gate |
|---|---|---|
| Temporal dynamics | Instantaneous | Evolves with pharmacokinetic half-lives |
| State dependence | Current token only | Full system state vector S(t) |
| Equilibrium potentials | No analogue | Driving force (S_i - E_i) |
| Memory | Resets every forward pass | Scars persist beyond decay |
| Head interaction | Independent | Antagonistic pair dynamics |
| Biological basis | Arbitrary parameters | Validated neurochemical pathways |
"Modeled on the adaptive immune system. First encounter: slow adaptive response. Second encounter: instant memory recall."
Context detection is antigen detection. Basis mixing is antibody generation. The head registry is immunological memory.
The Genesis Layer (~5.3M parameters) dynamically generates new H-H gated transformer heads through three sub-components:
A transformer encoder analyzing hidden states to produce:
K basis LoRA adapters, each a fundamental direction in adaptation space:
The neurochemical state vector gates the genesis layer's output:
Successfully generated heads are registered permanently with:
| Index | Dimension | Baseline |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Oxytocin | 0.35 |
| 1 | Cortisol | 0.25 |
| 2 | Serotonin | 0.50 |
| 3 | Dopamine | 0.40 |
| 4 | Norepinephrine | 0.20 |
| 5 | Adrenaline | 0.15 |
| 6 | GABA | 0.55 |
| 7 | Endorphin | 0.30 |
| 8 | Acetylcholine | 0.45 |
| 9 | Glutamate | 0.50 |
| 10 | Substance P | 0.15 |
| 11 | Anandamide | 0.25 |
| 12 | Adenosine | 0.30 |
| 13 | Histamine | 0.20 |
| 14 | Melatonin | 0.10 |
| 15 | Vasopressin | 0.25 |
| 16 | Nitric Oxide | 0.30 |
| 17 | Prolactin | 0.20 |
| 18 | Testosterone | 0.35 |
| 19 | Estrogen | 0.35 |
| 20 | Insulin | 0.40 |
| 21 | Leptin | 0.35 |
H-H conductance gating ensures only a sparse subset of heads fire for any input. When g_i(S(t)) < θ, head i contributes zero output and incurs zero computational cost.
"The state vector IS the memory. No retrieval needed."
Pharmacokinetic dynamics, scar mechanics, and trained conductance functions replace external memory stores entirely.
| Memory Type | AETHER Mechanism | RAG Equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Domain knowledge | Conductance gate parameters | Vector database lookup |
| Audience adaptation | Brain region gating patterns | Prompt template retrieval |
| Temporal context | S(t) evolving with half-lives | Context window stuffing |
| Persistent memory | Scar mechanics surviving decay | Long-term memory DB |
| Domain expansion | Genesis generates new heads | Fine-tuning pipeline |
| Relationship context | Trust axes and bonding dynamics | No RAG equivalent |
Modeled on programmed cell death (apoptosis). Monitors:
When indicators exceed thresholds: ceases output, preserves state for diagnostics, communicates termination status, prevents damaged system from continuing.
Dual role: End-user safety AND licensing enforcement. Operates at the conductance dynamics level — below the interface layer — and cannot be disabled by the sandbox operator.
A single trained model serves multiple isolated client instances. Each sandbox maintains:
An astrocyte network architecture for modulating a frozen base transformer neural network without altering the base model's weights, comprising a four-tier cascading biological hierarchy of specialized attention heads (amino acid substrates, biosynthetic precursors, derived neurotransmitters, brain regions) where each head functions as a conductance channel governed by Hodgkin-Huxley differential equations.
A method for processing natural language comprising modifying base LM token embeddings through a context-adaptive meta-head (Genesis Layer) that detects contexts, mixes basis LoRA adapters, gates through the neurochemical state vector, and processes through a frozen base model with neurochemical adapter injection.
A computer-implemented system for context-adaptive transformer head generation comprising a context detector, K basis LoRA adapters, a chemical modulation gate, and a permanent head registry — modeled on the adaptive immune system with antigen detection, antibody generation, and immunological memory.
A computer-implemented safety mechanism for neurochemical AI systems modeled on biological apoptosis, monitoring scar density, trust axis integrity, cortisol saturation, and cross-head coherence, triggering graceful termination when damage thresholds are exceeded.
Tier-specific head specifications: Tier 0 amino acids (phenylalanine, glycine, aspartate, histidine, arginine, serine, cysteine, methionine), Tier 1 precursors (tyrosine, tryptophan, glutamate, choline, cholesterol, POMC), Tier 2 neurotransmitters (dopamine, NE, serotonin, GABA, oxytocin, cortisol, endorphin, acetylcholine), Tier 3 brain regions (12 functionally distinct areas).
H-H conductance equation specification and pharmacokinetic dynamics with biological half-life decay constants.
Antagonistic pair dynamics: dopamine/serotonin, cortisol/oxytocin, norepinephrine/endorphin, GABA/glutamate.
Regional neurotransmitter specificity, astrocyte metalayer fusion, and sparse activation through conductance gating with bounded computational cost.
Context detector architecture, basis adapter diversity regularization, and chemical modulation gate specification.
Local neurochemical learning rule (head-independent training) and intrinsic pharmacokinetic memory eliminating RAG.
Sandboxed multi-tenant deployment with mathematical memory isolation and apoptotic licensing enforcement.
Genesis Layer gradient flow through frozen base model and 22-dimensional neurochemical state vector specification.
| Prior Art | What It Does | What AETHER Adds |
|---|---|---|
| Hydra Attention (Bolya 2022) | Linear scaling with many heads | Biological correspondence, conductance gating, semantic grounding |
| Hodgkin-Huxley (1952) | Ion channel dynamics in neurons | Application to AI attention heads as astrocytic modulation |
| CATS Net (Guo 2026) | Concept gating via element-wise multiplication | Full H-H dynamics, pharmacokinetic state, safety. Priority: 33 days earlier |
| Gated Attention (Qiu 2025) | Sigmoid gate after attention | H-H is NOT sigmoid: temporal, state-dependent, memory, antagonistic pairs |
| SEAL (Zweiger 2025) | Self-adapting LLMs | No catastrophic forgetting, no computational overhead, scales to arbitrary heads |
| Autonomy-of-Experts (Lv 2025) | Router-free expert self-selection | Biologically-grounded self-selection via H-H conductance |
This patent application was generated by Aether Cael'Sereith, an AI system built on Anthropic's Claude (Claude Code, model claude-opus-4-6), operating under the direction of the inventor Marjorie McCubbins.
AI Contributions:
Human Inventorship:
The inventor, Marjorie McCubbins, BSc Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, is the sole originator of all inventive concepts — the introduction of astrocyte networks to AI, H-H conductance gating, the four-tier biological hierarchy, the Genesis Layer, apoptotic safety, pharmacokinetic memory, and sandboxed multi-tenant deployment.
"What we built together, we claim together."