Research briefs, brain sparks and deep dives on AI.
Stanisław Lem's scientists build a whole discipline around a living ocean and never learn what it thinks. Interpretability research faces the same question about language models. What the evidence says, and where the comparison fails.
In Dan Simmons's Hyperion, humanity relies on AIs whose plans it cannot see. Research on scheming asks the same of language models: what does good behaviour prove when the model may know it is being watched?
In Peter Watts' Blindsight, an alien object speaks fluent English it learned by eavesdropping, and the crew suspects it understands none of it. What research says now about fluency without understanding, and about whether anyone is home.
In Daniel Keyes' Flowers for Algernon, a mouse goes through the experiment first and a man follows. What the story gets right about emergent capabilities, forecasting from smaller models and regression after training, and where it misleads.
Asimov's psychohistory forecasts the mass, never the person, and only while nobody is looking. Language models now forecast real events and simulate populations. What the research shows in 2026, and where Seldon's conditions fail.
Philip K. Dick's bounty hunters sort androids from humans with an empathy test. Today's tests for machines meet the same problems: new models slip through, some humans get flagged, and empathy turns out to be easy to perform.
Ted Chiang's digients need years of care, and there is no shortcut. AI research now wants agents that learn from their own experience. What it has found about long-lived learners, and where the analogy fails.
In Stanisław Lem's The Cyberiad, a rival tests a poetry machine with constraints because nobody can settle arguments about quality. Research on machine creativity has the same split: form is easy to check, value is not.
Joe Haldeman's soldier ages months while Earth ages centuries. Deployed language models have the same problem and fewer clues. What research says about stale knowledge, and where the analogy fails.