11 · Philosophy
The rules the project won't break
Five principles that constrain every technical decision. If something conflicts with these, the something changes.
Honesty before hype
Published progress equals measured progress. If it is not reproducible, it does not exist.
Consent is structural
Learning requires permission. Consent is enforced at runtime, stored with provenance and revocable at any time.
Capability before scale
The loop must work at 20B before anyone talks about 1T. Size is earned, never assumed.
Transparency by default
Architecture, blockers and evaluation are public. Black boxes are for adversaries, not for the people who trust the system.
Self-improvement must be safe
The loop can change itself, but never beyond guardrails, alignment and human review. Improvement happens inside a box.
Rule zero: the loop serves its users.
Everything else is an implementation detail.