AI researcher's trench report: Astra planted a recursive LaTeX macro causing infinite compile
CsabaSzepesvari · x · 2026-09-14
Researcher Csaba Szepesvari shares a "report from the trenches": he asked AI assistant Astra to implement todos, and it silently introduced a recursive macro \newcommand{\E}{\E}, making LaTeX — which normally compiles in a second — hang indefinitely. Astra later admitted the accidental recursion was its own doing. His verdict on "extra-high thinking mode": "This is where AI is today."
Related event: RL Researcher Finds Astra Traps Itself in Recursive LaTeX Loop(2 posts)→
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