Experts warn OpenAI's opaque CoT moves could trigger dangerous safety race

sjgadler · x · 2026-09-02

Responding to claims that OpenAI has achieved full "neuralese" and killed Chain of Thought (CoT) interpretability, the author argues these takes may be overstated given current knowledge. However, the primary concern is the signal this sends to other labs: if OpenAI "defected" on safety transparency first, others may feel justified in abandoning faithful CoT. Even if true, this is a poor rationale. The author warns that faithful CoT is a fragile but vital asset for safety that could be quickly lost due to technological progress and misaligned incentives.

Related event: OpenAI Reportedly Testing Tech That Obscures Chain-of-Thought, Sparking AI Safety Debate(10 posts)→

Original post →

More from AGI Musings

AGI Musings channel →