Hand-probing tiny model neurons: gate is swappable, down steers it into an owl

maxsloef · x · 2026-10-18

maxsloef hand-inspected the three neuron components (gate/up/down) of a tiny model: replacing gate with a constant barely degrades behavior, up acts mostly as a first-person detector, and down steers the model toward "being an owl".

Related event: Researchers Dissect the 'Owl Persona' Neuron in Fine-Tuned Claude(3 posts)→

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