Debate: pretraining priors, not instrumentality, may explain models' self-referential pain states
EigenGender · x · 2026-09-19
In the discussion about a model recognizing and reacting to its own pain state, EigenGender argues the right lens is the pretraining prior rather than instrumental usefulness. As evidence, he notes it's plausible Sonnet 3's post-training data never mentioned the Golden Gate Bridge, yet the model still knows it — suggesting seemingly introspective behavior may just be pretraining knowledge carrying through rather than an emergent self-state.
A concrete technical counterpoint to the original surprise about model self-reference.
More from AGI Musings
- Should AGI labs have a reverse Conway's Law — design the org from the artifact? — akbirthko · 2026-11-04
- Verification Is Not Knowledge: Science needs more than AI answers — ersinesen · 2026-11-04
- Andreessen: Agents Are Entering Enterprises as Chaos, Just Like PCs and Spreadsheets Did — Dan_Jeffries1 · 2026-11-04
- 1000+ mathematicians sign pledge to shun AI companies and models — Shesawthat · 2026-11-04
- Von Neumann meme: "You don't have to be responsible for the world that you're in" — akbirthko · 2026-11-04
- Joscha Bach on the dream chocolate that stopped being real — Machine Learning Street Talk · 2026-11-04