LessWrong essay: AI lab employees are 'microdosing' their org's spirit, argues researcher
jankulveit · x · 2026-10-31
Jan Kulveit publishes a LessWrong essay proposing 'microdosing' as a metaphor for the epistemic state of AI lab employees: a chronically mildly altered state of mind.
- Insiders don't hold crazy beliefs; rather, vigorous debate inside a shared attention field combines with a portfolio of individually reasonable beliefs that collectively lean in directions convenient to the organization.
- Like psychedelic microdosing, it may grant hard-to-access insights but doesn't improve overall epistemics — you are not completely sober.
- Being inside has real advantages: knowledge of the capability frontier, early access to models, internal Slack and vibes. Outsiders should take insider reports seriously but read them as 'microdosing': curious yet cautious.
- His advice to insiders: notice your mind may be subtly altered — not tripping (insiders are highly functional), but in subtler ways.
The 'substance' is the organization's spirit — an organizational egregore or superagent.
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