Inside an AI lab you're not fully sober: insider epistemics as microdosing
jankulveit · x · 2026-10-31
The author argues that being inside an AI lab is like microdosing psychedelics: it can reveal things outsiders can't see, yet doesn't necessarily improve your overall epistemics—because you are not completely sober.
The key claim: the problem isn't that insiders hold crazy beliefs, but that vigorous debate inside a shared attention field, combined with a portfolio of individually reasonable beliefs, tilts collectively in a direction convenient for the organization. Insiders do have real advantages—frontier access, early model access, internal Slack and vibes—but outsiders shouldn't over-trust that privileged view.
Related event: LessWrong Essay Compares AI Lab Insiders' Cognition to Microdosing(3 posts)→
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