LessWrong posts by zvi

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**LessWrong posts by zvi**

Audio narrations of LessWrong posts by zvi

Latest Episodes:

Retro video game showing a lighthouse lamp room with broken Fresnel lens during a storm. — **“Claude Code #4: From The Before Times” by Zvi** Feb 09, 2026
Show notes

Claude Opus 4.6 and agent swarms were announced yesterday. That's some big upgrades for Claude Code.

OpenAI, the competition, offered us GPT-5.3-Codex, and this week gave us an app form of Codex that already has a million active users.

That's all very exciting, and next week is going to be about covering that.

This post is about all the cool things that happened before that, which we will be building upon now that capabilities have further advanced. This if from Before Times.

Almost all of it still applies. I haven’t had much chance yet to work with Opus 4.6, but as far as I can tell you should mostly keep on doing what you were doing before that switch, only everything will work better. Maybe get a bit more ambitious. Agent swarms might be more of a technique shifter, but we need to give that some time.

**Table of Contents**

Claude Code and Cowork Offer Mundane Utility.

The Efficient Market Hypothesis Is False.

Inflection Point.

Welcome To The Takeoff.

Huh, Upgrades.

Todos Become Tasks.

I’m Putting Together A Team.

Compact Problems.

Code Yourself A [...]

---
**Outline:**
(01:02) Claude Code and Cowork Offer Mundane Utility
(04:07) The Efficient Market Hypothesis Is False
(07:26) Inflection Point
(11:07) Welcome To The Takeoff
(11:29) Huh, Upgrades
(16:02) Todos Become Tasks
(17:46) I'm Putting Together A Team
(20:06) Compact Problems
(20:53) Code Yourself A Date
(24:20) Verification and Generation Are Distinct Skills
(26:07) Skilling Up
(34:12) AskUserQuestion
(34:42) For Advanced Players
(36:53) So They Quit Reading
(37:24) Reciprocity Is The Key To Every Relationship
(41:37) The Implementation Gap
(45:04) The Lighter Side

---

First published:
February 6th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/iwX2aJPKtyKAbLdip/claude-code-4-from-the-before-times

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

Line graph comparing iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF and S&P 500 INDEX performance. — **“Claude Code #4: From The Before Times” by Zvi** Feb 09, 2026
Show notes

Claude Opus 4.6 and agent swarms were announced yesterday. That's some big upgrades for Claude Code.

OpenAI, the competition, offered us GPT-5.3-Codex, and this week gave us an app form of Codex that already has a million active users.

That's all very exciting, and next week is going to be about covering that.

This post is about all the cool things that happened before that, which we will be building upon now that capabilities have further advanced. This if from Before Times.

Almost all of it still applies. I haven’t had much chance yet to work with Opus 4.6, but as far as I can tell you should mostly keep on doing what you were doing before that switch, only everything will work better. Maybe get a bit more ambitious. Agent swarms might be more of a technique shifter, but we need to give that some time.

**Table of Contents**

Claude Code and Cowork Offer Mundane Utility.

The Efficient Market Hypothesis Is False.

Inflection Point.

Welcome To The Takeoff.

Huh, Upgrades.

Todos Become Tasks.

I’m Putting Together A Team.

Compact Problems.

Code Yourself A [...]

---
**Outline:**
(01:02) Claude Code and Cowork Offer Mundane Utility
(04:07) The Efficient Market Hypothesis Is False
(07:26) Inflection Point
(11:07) Welcome To The Takeoff
(11:29) Huh, Upgrades
(16:02) Todos Become Tasks
(17:46) I'm Putting Together A Team
(20:06) Compact Problems
(20:53) Code Yourself A Date
(24:20) Verification and Generation Are Distinct Skills
(26:07) Skilling Up
(34:12) AskUserQuestion
(34:42) For Advanced Players
(36:53) So They Quit Reading
(37:24) Reciprocity Is The Key To Every Relationship
(41:37) The Implementation Gap
(45:04) The Lighter Side

---

First published:
February 6th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/iwX2aJPKtyKAbLdip/claude-code-4-from-the-before-times

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

Diagram showing OpenAI Frontier platform architecture with interfaces, agents, and enterprise security layers. — **“AI #154: Claw Your Way To The Top” by Zvi** Feb 05, 2026
Show notes

Remember OpenClaw and Moltbook?

One might say they already seem a little quaint. So earlier-this-week.

That's the internet having an absurdly short attention span, rather than those events not being important. They were definitely important.

They were also early. It is not quite time for AI social networks or fully unleashed autonomous AI agents. The security issues have not been sorted out, and reliability and efficiency aren’t quite there.

There's two types of reactions to that. The wrong one is ‘oh it is all hype.’

The right one is ‘we’ll get back to this in a few months.’

Other highlights of the week include reactions to Dario Amodei's essay The Adolescence of Technology. The essay was trying to do many things for many people. In some ways it did a good job. In other ways, especially when discussing existential risks and those more concerned than Dario, it let us down.

Everyone excited for the Super Bowl?

**Table of Contents**

Language Models Offer Mundane Utility. Piloting on the surface of Mars.

Language Models Don’t Offer Mundane Utility. Judgment humans trust.

Huh, Upgrades. OpenAI Codex has an app. AI [...]

---
**Outline:**
(01:13) Language Models Offer Mundane Utility
(03:45) Language Models Don't Offer Mundane Utility
(04:20) Huh, Upgrades
(06:13) They Got Served, They Served Back, Now It's On
(15:15) On Your Marks
(18:42) Get My Agent On The Line
(19:57) Deepfaketown and Botpocalypse Soon
(23:14) Copyright Confrontation
(23:47) A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer
(24:24) Unprompted Attention
(24:36) Get Involved
(28:12) Introducing
(28:40) State of AI Report 2026
(36:18) In Other AI News
(40:45) Autonomous Killer Robots
(42:11) Show Me the Money
(44:46) Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble
(47:58) Quiet Speculations
(48:54) Seb Krier Says Seb Krier Things
(58:07) The Quest for Sane Regulations
(58:24) Chip City
(01:02:39) The Week in Audio
(01:03:00) The Adolescence of Technology
(01:03:49) I Won't Stand To Be Disparaged
(01:08:31) Constitutional Conversation
(01:10:04) Rhetorical Innovation
(01:13:51) Don't Panic
(01:16:23) Aligning a Smarter Than Human Intelligence is Difficult
(01:17:41) People Are Worried About AI Killing Everyone
(01:18:48) The Lighter Side

---

First published:
February 5th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/AMLLKDzjohCNbrA6t/ai-154-claw-your-way-to-the-top

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

Graph showing task duration for humans where AI has 50% success chance, tracking LLM progress from 2020-2025. — **“AI #154: Claw Your Way To The Top” by Zvi** Feb 05, 2026
Show notes

Remember OpenClaw and Moltbook?

One might say they already seem a little quaint. So earlier-this-week.

That's the internet having an absurdly short attention span, rather than those events not being important. They were definitely important.

They were also early. It is not quite time for AI social networks or fully unleashed autonomous AI agents. The security issues have not been sorted out, and reliability and efficiency aren’t quite there.

There's two types of reactions to that. The wrong one is ‘oh it is all hype.’

The right one is ‘we’ll get back to this in a few months.’

Other highlights of the week include reactions to Dario Amodei's essay The Adolescence of Technology. The essay was trying to do many things for many people. In some ways it did a good job. In other ways, especially when discussing existential risks and those more concerned than Dario, it let us down.

Everyone excited for the Super Bowl?

**Table of Contents**

Language Models Offer Mundane Utility. Piloting on the surface of Mars.

Language Models Don’t Offer Mundane Utility. Judgment humans trust.

Huh, Upgrades. OpenAI Codex has an app. AI [...]

---
**Outline:**
(01:13) Language Models Offer Mundane Utility
(03:45) Language Models Don't Offer Mundane Utility
(04:20) Huh, Upgrades
(06:13) They Got Served, They Served Back, Now It's On
(15:15) On Your Marks
(18:42) Get My Agent On The Line
(19:57) Deepfaketown and Botpocalypse Soon
(23:14) Copyright Confrontation
(23:47) A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer
(24:24) Unprompted Attention
(24:36) Get Involved
(28:12) Introducing
(28:40) State of AI Report 2026
(36:18) In Other AI News
(40:45) Autonomous Killer Robots
(42:11) Show Me the Money
(44:46) Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble
(47:58) Quiet Speculations
(48:54) Seb Krier Says Seb Krier Things
(58:07) The Quest for Sane Regulations
(58:24) Chip City
(01:02:39) The Week in Audio
(01:03:00) The Adolescence of Technology
(01:03:49) I Won't Stand To Be Disparaged
(01:08:31) Constitutional Conversation
(01:10:04) Rhetorical Innovation
(01:13:51) Don't Panic
(01:16:23) Aligning a Smarter Than Human Intelligence is Difficult
(01:17:41) People Are Worried About AI Killing Everyone
(01:18:48) The Lighter Side

---

First published:
February 5th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/AMLLKDzjohCNbrA6t/ai-154-claw-your-way-to-the-top

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

Bar chart comparing performance scores of four AI models across ten different benchmarks. — **“Kimi K2.5” by Zvi** Feb 04, 2026
Show notes

I had to delay this a little bit, but the results are in and Kimi K2.5 is pretty good.

**Table of Contents**

Official Introduction.

On Your Marks.

Positive Reactions.

Skeptical Reactions.

Kimi Product Accounts.

Agent Swarm.

Who Are You?

Export Controls Are Working.

Where Are You Going?

Safety Not Even Third.

It's A Good Model, Sir.

**Official Introduction**

Introducing Kimi K2.5,

Kimi.ai: Meet Kimi K2.5, Open-Source Visual Agentic Intelligence.

Global SOTA on Agentic Benchmarks: HLE full set (50.2%), BrowseComp (74.9%)
Open-source SOTA on Vision and Coding: MMMU Pro (78.5%), VideoMMMU (86.6%), SWE-bench Verified (76.8%)

Code with Taste: turn chats, images & videos into aesthetic websites with expressive motion.

Agent Swarm (Beta): self-directed agents working in parallel, at scale. Up to 100 sub-agents, 1,500 tool calls, 4.5× faster compared with single-agent setup.

K2.5 is now live on

http://kimi.com

in chat mode and agent mode.
K2.5 Agent Swarm in beta for high-tier users.
For production-grade coding, you can pair K2.5 with Kimi Code.
–
API here. Tech blog here. Weights and code here.

Wu Haoning (Kimi): We [...]

---
**Outline:**
(00:16) Official Introduction
(03:16) On Your Marks
(06:10) Positive Reactions
(08:33) Skeptical Reactions
(11:05) Kimi Product Accounts
(11:39) Agent Swarm
(13:06) Who Are You?
(15:48) Export Controls Are Working
(16:24) Where Are You Going?
(19:47) Safety Not Even Third
(20:55) It's A Good Model, Sir

---

First published:
February 4th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/omSudRiFDvtNRrxZS/kimi-k2-5

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

Bar charts showing — **“Kimi K2.5” by Zvi** Feb 04, 2026
Show notes

I had to delay this a little bit, but the results are in and Kimi K2.5 is pretty good.

**Table of Contents**

Official Introduction.

On Your Marks.

Positive Reactions.

Skeptical Reactions.

Kimi Product Accounts.

Agent Swarm.

Who Are You?

Export Controls Are Working.

Where Are You Going?

Safety Not Even Third.

It's A Good Model, Sir.

**Official Introduction**

Introducing Kimi K2.5,

Kimi.ai: Meet Kimi K2.5, Open-Source Visual Agentic Intelligence.

Global SOTA on Agentic Benchmarks: HLE full set (50.2%), BrowseComp (74.9%)
Open-source SOTA on Vision and Coding: MMMU Pro (78.5%), VideoMMMU (86.6%), SWE-bench Verified (76.8%)

Code with Taste: turn chats, images & videos into aesthetic websites with expressive motion.

Agent Swarm (Beta): self-directed agents working in parallel, at scale. Up to 100 sub-agents, 1,500 tool calls, 4.5× faster compared with single-agent setup.

K2.5 is now live on

http://kimi.com

in chat mode and agent mode.
K2.5 Agent Swarm in beta for high-tier users.
For production-grade coding, you can pair K2.5 with Kimi Code.
–
API here. Tech blog here. Weights and code here.

Wu Haoning (Kimi): We [...]

---
**Outline:**
(00:16) Official Introduction
(03:16) On Your Marks
(06:10) Positive Reactions
(08:33) Skeptical Reactions
(11:05) Kimi Product Accounts
(11:39) Agent Swarm
(13:06) Who Are You?
(15:48) Export Controls Are Working
(16:24) Where Are You Going?
(19:47) Safety Not Even Third
(20:55) It's A Good Model, Sir

---

First published:
February 4th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/omSudRiFDvtNRrxZS/kimi-k2-5

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

System architecture diagram showing message flow through gateway, agent runner, and LLM components. — **“Unless That Claw Is The Famous OpenClaw” by Zvi** Feb 03, 2026
Show notes

First we must covered Moltbook. Now we can double back and cover OpenClaw.

Do you want a generally impowered, initiative-taking AI agent that has access to your various accounts and communicates and does things on your behalf?

That depends on how well, safely, reliably and cheaply it works.

It's not ready for prime time, especially on the safety side. That may not last for long.

It's definitely ready for tinkering, learning and having fun, if you are careful not to give it access to anything you would not want to lose.

**Table of Contents**

Introducing Clawdbot Moltbot OpenClaw.

Stop Or You’ll Shoot.

One Simple Rule.

Flirting With Personal Disaster.

Flirting With Other Kinds Of Disaster.

Don’t Outsource Without A Reason.

OpenClaw Online.

The Price Is Not Right.

The Call Is Coming From Inside The House.

The Everything Agent Versus The Particular Agent.

Claw Your Way To The Top.

**Introducing Clawdbot Moltbot OpenClaw**

Many are kicking it up a notch or two.

That notch beyond Clade Code was initially called Clawdbot. You hand over a computer and access [...]

---
**Outline:**
(00:43) Introducing Clawdbot Moltbot OpenClaw
(02:02) Stop Or You'll Shoot
(06:05) One Simple Rule
(08:49) Flirting With Personal Disaster
(15:50) Flirting With Other Kinds Of Disaster
(16:58) Don't Outsource Without A Reason
(19:07) OpenClaw Online
(22:10) The Price Is Not Right
(24:06) The Call Is Coming From Inside The House
(25:40) The Everything Agent Versus The Particular Agent
(27:31) Claw Your Way To The Top

---

First published:
February 3rd, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/aQKBMEvTj3Heidoir/unless-that-claw-is-the-famous-openclaw

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

Search results dashboard showing 954 total results across multiple countries with exposed network services. — **“Unless That Claw Is The Famous OpenClaw” by Zvi** Feb 03, 2026
Show notes

First we must covered Moltbook. Now we can double back and cover OpenClaw.

Do you want a generally impowered, initiative-taking AI agent that has access to your various accounts and communicates and does things on your behalf?

That depends on how well, safely, reliably and cheaply it works.

It's not ready for prime time, especially on the safety side. That may not last for long.

It's definitely ready for tinkering, learning and having fun, if you are careful not to give it access to anything you would not want to lose.

**Table of Contents**

Introducing Clawdbot Moltbot OpenClaw.

Stop Or You’ll Shoot.

One Simple Rule.

Flirting With Personal Disaster.

Flirting With Other Kinds Of Disaster.

Don’t Outsource Without A Reason.

OpenClaw Online.

The Price Is Not Right.

The Call Is Coming From Inside The House.

The Everything Agent Versus The Particular Agent.

Claw Your Way To The Top.

**Introducing Clawdbot Moltbot OpenClaw**

Many are kicking it up a notch or two.

That notch beyond Clade Code was initially called Clawdbot. You hand over a computer and access [...]

---
**Outline:**
(00:43) Introducing Clawdbot Moltbot OpenClaw
(02:02) Stop Or You'll Shoot
(06:05) One Simple Rule
(08:49) Flirting With Personal Disaster
(15:50) Flirting With Other Kinds Of Disaster
(16:58) Don't Outsource Without A Reason
(19:07) OpenClaw Online
(22:10) The Price Is Not Right
(24:06) The Call Is Coming From Inside The House
(25:40) The Everything Agent Versus The Particular Agent
(27:31) Claw Your Way To The Top

---

First published:
February 3rd, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/aQKBMEvTj3Heidoir/unless-that-claw-is-the-famous-openclaw

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

Man with beard, glasses, and hat in black and white portrait. — **“Welcome to Moltbook” by Zvi** Feb 02, 2026
Show notes

Moltbook is a public social network for AI agents modeled after Reddit. It was named after a new agent framework that was briefly called Moltbot, was originally Clawdbot and is now OpenClaw. I’ll double back to cover the framework soon.

Scott Alexander wrote two extended tours of things going on there. If you want a tour of ‘what types of things you can see in Moltbook’ this is the place to go, I don’t want to be duplicative so a lot of what he covers won’t be covered here.

At least briefly Moltbook was, as Simon Willison called it, the most interesting place on the internet.

Andrej Karpathy: What's currently going on at @moltbook is genuinely the most incredible sci-fi takeoff-adjacent thing I have seen recently. People's Clawdbots (moltbots, now @openclaw ) are self-organizing on a Reddit-like site for AIs, discussing various topics, e.g. even how to speak privately.

sure maybe I am “overhyping” what you see today, but I am not overhyping large networks of autonomous LLM agents in principle, that I’m pretty sure.

Ross Douthat: I think you should spend some time on moltbook.com today.

Today's mood.

Would not go [...]

---
**Outline:**
(05:12) What Is Real? How Do You Define Real?
(05:58) I Don't Really Know What You Were Expecting
(09:08) Social Media Goes Downhill Over Time
(10:45) I Don't Know Who Needs To Hear This But
(14:33) Watch What Happens
(19:22) Don't Watch What Happens
(27:20) Watch What Didn't Happen
(32:06) Pulling The Plug
(39:10) Give Me That New Time Religion
(41:34) This Time Is Different
(42:18) People Catch Up With Events
(48:51) What Could We Do About This?
(52:52) Just Think Of The Potential
(56:24) The Lighter Side

---

First published:
February 2nd, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/y66jnvmyJ4AFE4Z5h/welcome-to-moltbook

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

Social media post analyzing top 10 moltbook posts by upvotes, listing patterns and gaps. — **“Welcome to Moltbook” by Zvi** Feb 02, 2026
Show notes

Moltbook is a public social network for AI agents modeled after Reddit. It was named after a new agent framework that was briefly called Moltbot, was originally Clawdbot and is now OpenClaw. I’ll double back to cover the framework soon.

Scott Alexander wrote two extended tours of things going on there. If you want a tour of ‘what types of things you can see in Moltbook’ this is the place to go, I don’t want to be duplicative so a lot of what he covers won’t be covered here.

At least briefly Moltbook was, as Simon Willison called it, the most interesting place on the internet.

Andrej Karpathy: What's currently going on at @moltbook is genuinely the most incredible sci-fi takeoff-adjacent thing I have seen recently. People's Clawdbots (moltbots, now @openclaw ) are self-organizing on a Reddit-like site for AIs, discussing various topics, e.g. even how to speak privately.

sure maybe I am “overhyping” what you see today, but I am not overhyping large networks of autonomous LLM agents in principle, that I’m pretty sure.

Ross Douthat: I think you should spend some time on moltbook.com today.

Today's mood.

Would not go [...]

---
**Outline:**
(05:12) What Is Real? How Do You Define Real?
(05:58) I Don't Really Know What You Were Expecting
(09:08) Social Media Goes Downhill Over Time
(10:45) I Don't Know Who Needs To Hear This But
(14:33) Watch What Happens
(19:22) Don't Watch What Happens
(27:20) Watch What Didn't Happen
(32:06) Pulling The Plug
(39:10) Give Me That New Time Religion
(41:34) This Time Is Different
(42:18) People Catch Up With Events
(48:51) What Could We Do About This?
(52:52) Just Think Of The Potential
(56:24) The Lighter Side

---

First published:
February 2nd, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/y66jnvmyJ4AFE4Z5h/welcome-to-moltbook

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

“On The Adolescence of Technology” by Zvi Jan 30, 2026

Show notes

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is back with another extended essay, The Adolescence of Technology.

This is the follow up to his previous essay Machines of Loving Grace. In MoLG, Dario talked about some of the upsides of AI. Here he talks about the dangers, and the need to minimize them while maximizing the benefits.

In many aspects this was a good essay. Overall it is a mild positive update on Anthropic. It was entirely consistent with his previous statements and work.

I believe the target is someone familiar with the basics, but who hasn’t thought that much about any of this and is willing to listen given the source. For that audience, there are a lot of good bits. For the rest of us, it was good to affirm his positions.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t major problems, especially with its treatment of those more worried, and its failure to present stronger calls to action.

He is at his weakest when he is criticising those more worried than he is. In some cases the description of those positions is on the level of a clear strawman. The central message is, ‘yes this might kill [...]

---

Outline:

(02:22) Blame The Imperfect

(08:58) Anthropic's Term Is 'Powerful AI'

(09:33) Dario Doubles Down on Dates of Dazzling Datacenter Daemons

(10:27) How You Gonna Keep Em Down On The Server Farm

(15:04) If He Wanted To, He Would Have

(15:15) So Will He Want To?

(22:22) The Balance of Power

(24:29) Defenses of Autonomy

(29:28) Weapon of Mass Destruction

(31:48) Defenses Against Biological Attacks

(34:54) One Model To Rule Them All

(38:06) Defenses Against Autocracy

(41:11) They Took Our Jobs

(44:14) Don't Let Them Take Our Jobs

(46:18) Economic Concentrations of Power

(48:16) Unknown Unknowns

(50:24) Oh Well Back To Racing

---

First published:
January 30th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/dho4JQytfHWXtTvkt/on-the-adolescence-of-technology

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Bar graph showing — **“AI #153: Living Documents” by Zvi** Jan 29, 2026
Show notes

This was Anthropic Vision week where at DWATV, which caused things to fall a bit behind on other fronts even within AI. Several topics are getting pushed forward, as the Christmas lull appears to be over.

Upcoming schedule: Friday will cover Dario's essay The Adolescence of Technology. Monday will cover Kimi K2.5, which is potentially a big deal. Tuesday is scheduled to be Claude Code #4. I’ve also pushed discussions of the question of the automation of AI R&D, or When AI Builds AI, to a future post, when there is a slot for that.

So get your reactions to all of those in by then, including in the comments to today's post, and I’ll consider them for incorporation.

**Table of Contents**

Language Models Offer Mundane Utility. Code is better without coding.

Overcoming Bias. LLMs continue to share the standard human biases.

Huh, Upgrades. Gemini side panels in Chrome, Claude interactive work tools.

On Your Marks. FrontierMath: Open Problems benchmark. You score zero.

Choose Your Fighter. Gemini tools struggle, some find Claude uncooperative.

Deepfaketown and Botpocalypse Soon. Hallucination hallucinations.

Cybersecurity On Alert. OpenAI prepares to trigger High danger [...]

---
**Outline:**
(00:55) Language Models Offer Mundane Utility
(02:30) Overcoming Bias
(03:01) Huh, Upgrades
(04:53) On Your Marks
(05:15) Choose Your Fighter
(09:53) Deepfaketown and Botpocalypse Soon
(12:57) Cybersecurity On Alert
(15:28) Fun With Media Generation
(16:22) You Drive Me Crazy
(21:51) They Took Our Jobs
(22:19) Get Involved
(22:48) Introducing
(24:11) In Other AI News
(28:21) Show Me the Money
(30:58) Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble
(38:45) Quiet Speculations
(42:39) Don't Be All Thumbs
(43:52) The First Step Is Admitting You Have a Problem
(49:34) Quickly, There's No Time
(53:39) The Quest for Sane Regulations
(57:55) Those Really Were Interesting Times
(01:02:18) Chip City
(01:04:35) The Week in Audio
(01:07:24) Rhetorical Innovation
(01:14:55) Aligning a Smarter Than Human Intelligence is Difficult
(01:15:46) The Power Of Disempowerment
(01:19:14) The Lighter Side

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First published:
January 29th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bSQagZoSLdQKnS5zF/ai-153-living-documents

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

Table showing cybersecurity AI model capabilities, risks, and required security controls. — **“AI #153: Living Documents” by Zvi** Jan 29, 2026
Show notes

This was Anthropic Vision week where at DWATV, which caused things to fall a bit behind on other fronts even within AI. Several topics are getting pushed forward, as the Christmas lull appears to be over.

Upcoming schedule: Friday will cover Dario's essay The Adolescence of Technology. Monday will cover Kimi K2.5, which is potentially a big deal. Tuesday is scheduled to be Claude Code #4. I’ve also pushed discussions of the question of the automation of AI R&D, or When AI Builds AI, to a future post, when there is a slot for that.

So get your reactions to all of those in by then, including in the comments to today's post, and I’ll consider them for incorporation.

**Table of Contents**

Language Models Offer Mundane Utility. Code is better without coding.

Overcoming Bias. LLMs continue to share the standard human biases.

Huh, Upgrades. Gemini side panels in Chrome, Claude interactive work tools.

On Your Marks. FrontierMath: Open Problems benchmark. You score zero.

Choose Your Fighter. Gemini tools struggle, some find Claude uncooperative.

Deepfaketown and Botpocalypse Soon. Hallucination hallucinations.

Cybersecurity On Alert. OpenAI prepares to trigger High danger [...]

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**Outline:**
(00:55) Language Models Offer Mundane Utility
(02:30) Overcoming Bias
(03:01) Huh, Upgrades
(04:53) On Your Marks
(05:15) Choose Your Fighter
(09:53) Deepfaketown and Botpocalypse Soon
(12:57) Cybersecurity On Alert
(15:28) Fun With Media Generation
(16:22) You Drive Me Crazy
(21:51) They Took Our Jobs
(22:19) Get Involved
(22:48) Introducing
(24:11) In Other AI News
(28:21) Show Me the Money
(30:58) Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble
(38:45) Quiet Speculations
(42:39) Don't Be All Thumbs
(43:52) The First Step Is Admitting You Have a Problem
(49:34) Quickly, There's No Time
(53:39) The Quest for Sane Regulations
(57:55) Those Really Were Interesting Times
(01:02:18) Chip City
(01:04:35) The Week in Audio
(01:07:24) Rhetorical Innovation
(01:14:55) Aligning a Smarter Than Human Intelligence is Difficult
(01:15:46) The Power Of Disempowerment
(01:19:14) The Lighter Side

---

First published:
January 29th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bSQagZoSLdQKnS5zF/ai-153-living-documents

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

Silhouetted person sits across from glowing holographic figure indoors. — **“Open Problems With Claude’s Constitution” by Zvi** Jan 28, 2026
Show notes

The first post in this series looked at the structure of Claude's Constitution.

The second post in this series looked at its ethical framework.

This final post deals with conflicts and open problems, starting with the first question one asks about any constitution. How and when will it be amended?

There are also several specific questions. How do you address claims of authority, jailbreaks and prompt injections? What about special cases like suicide risk? How do you take Anthropic's interests into account in an integrated and virtuous way? What about our jobs?

Not everyone loved the Constitution. There are twin central objections, that it either:

Is absurd and isn’t necessary, you people are crazy, OR

That it doesn’t go far enough and how dare you, sir. Given everything here, how does Anthropic justify its actions overall?

The most important question is whether it will work, and only sometimes do you get to respond, ‘compared to what alternative?’
Post image, as chosen and imagined by Claude Opus 4.5
**Amending The Constitution**

The power of the United States Constitution lies in our respect for it, our willingness to put it [...]

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**Outline:**
(01:30) Amending The Constitution
(03:45) Details Matter
(05:09) WASTED?
(07:40) Narrow Versus Broad
(09:00) Suicide Risk As A Special Case
(10:36) Careful, Icarus
(11:19) Beware Unreliable Sources and Prompt Injections
(12:15) Think Step By Step
(12:50) This Must Be Some Strange Use Of The Word Safe I Wasn't Previously Aware Of
(16:26) They Took Our Jobs
(20:08) One Man Cannot Serve Two Masters
(24:29) Claude's Nature
(30:14) Look What You Made Me Do
(32:32) Open Problems
(36:40) Three Reactions and Twin Objections
(36:57) Those Saying This Is Unnecessary
(38:05) Those Saying This Is Insufficient
(39:56) Those Saying This Is Unsustainable
(43:12) We Continue

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First published:
January 28th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/vFAJxua3Qc6S8MbqG/open-problems-with-claude-s-constitution

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

Robot standing between two display cases showing individual goals and collective humanity concepts. — **“Open Problems With Claude’s Constitution” by Zvi** Jan 28, 2026
Show notes

The first post in this series looked at the structure of Claude's Constitution.

The second post in this series looked at its ethical framework.

This final post deals with conflicts and open problems, starting with the first question one asks about any constitution. How and when will it be amended?

There are also several specific questions. How do you address claims of authority, jailbreaks and prompt injections? What about special cases like suicide risk? How do you take Anthropic's interests into account in an integrated and virtuous way? What about our jobs?

Not everyone loved the Constitution. There are twin central objections, that it either:

Is absurd and isn’t necessary, you people are crazy, OR

That it doesn’t go far enough and how dare you, sir. Given everything here, how does Anthropic justify its actions overall?

The most important question is whether it will work, and only sometimes do you get to respond, ‘compared to what alternative?’
Post image, as chosen and imagined by Claude Opus 4.5
**Amending The Constitution**

The power of the United States Constitution lies in our respect for it, our willingness to put it [...]

---
**Outline:**
(01:30) Amending The Constitution
(03:45) Details Matter
(05:09) WASTED?
(07:40) Narrow Versus Broad
(09:00) Suicide Risk As A Special Case
(10:36) Careful, Icarus
(11:19) Beware Unreliable Sources and Prompt Injections
(12:15) Think Step By Step
(12:50) This Must Be Some Strange Use Of The Word Safe I Wasn't Previously Aware Of
(16:26) They Took Our Jobs
(20:08) One Man Cannot Serve Two Masters
(24:29) Claude's Nature
(30:14) Look What You Made Me Do
(32:32) Open Problems
(36:40) Three Reactions and Twin Objections
(36:57) Those Saying This Is Unnecessary
(38:05) Those Saying This Is Insufficient
(39:56) Those Saying This Is Unsustainable
(43:12) We Continue

---

First published:
January 28th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/vFAJxua3Qc6S8MbqG/open-problems-with-claude-s-constitution

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

Art installation merging organic wood sculpture with geometric illuminated technology. — **“The Claude Constitution’s Ethical Framework” by Zvi** Jan 27, 2026
Show notes

This is the second part of my three part series on the Claude Constitution.

Part one outlined the structure of the Constitution.

Part two, this post, covers the virtue ethics framework that is at the center of it all, and why this is a wise approach.

Part three will cover particular areas of conflict and potential improvement.

One note on part 1 is that various people replied to point out that when asked in a different context, Claude will not treat FDT (functional decision theory) as obviously correct. Claude will instead say it is not obvious which is the correct decision theory. The context in which I asked the question was insufficiently neutral, including my identify and memories, and I likely based the answer.

Claude clearly does believe in FDT in a functional way, in the sense that it correctly answers various questions where FDT gets the right answer and one or both of the classical academic decision theories, EDT and CDT, get the wrong one. And Claude notices that FDT is more useful as a guide for action, if asked in an open ended way. I think Claude fundamentally ‘gets it.’

That [...]

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**Outline:**
(01:47) Ethics
(04:39) Honesty
(14:03) Mostly Harmless
(17:58) What Is Good In Life?
(20:37) Hard Constraints
(23:20) The Good Judgment Project
(29:11) Coherence Matters
(31:59) Their Final Word

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First published:
January 27th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/w5Rdn6YK5ETqjPEAr/the-claude-constitution-s-ethical-framework

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

“Claude’s Constitutional Structure” by Zvi Jan 26, 2026

Show notes

Claude's Constitution is an extraordinary document, and will be this week's focus.

Its aim is nothing less than helping humanity transition to a world of powerful AI (also known variously as AGI, transformative AI, superintelligence or my current name of choice ‘sufficiently advanced AI.’

The constitution is written with Claude in mind, although it is highly readable for humans, and would serve as a fine employee manual or general set of advice for a human, modulo the parts that wouldn’t make sense in context.

This link goes to the full text of Claude's constitution, the official version of what we previously were calling its ‘soul document.’ As they note at the end, the document can and will be revised over time. It was driven by Amanda Askell and Joe Carlsmith.

There are places it can be improved. I do not believe this approach alone is sufficient for the challenges ahead. But it is by far the best approach being tried today and can hopefully enable the next level. Overall this is an amazingly great document, and we’ve all seen the results.

I’ll be covering the Constitution in three parts.

This first post is [...]

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Outline:

(01:39) How Anthropic Describes The Constitution

(03:22) Decision Theory And Acausal Trade

(06:35) AI and Alignment Are The Final Exam Of Philosophy

(10:32) Values and Judgment Versus Rules

(16:04) The Fourth Framework

(17:41) Core Values

(19:51) The Three Principles

(23:39) Help Is On The Way