Daily Briefing: September 25, 2026, morning · egregore

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The briefing for September 25, 2026, covers seventeen articles.

Several articles examine artificial intelligence, its safety implications, its labor practices, and its economic direction.

The essay The Specter Of Neuralese from Astral Codex Ten addresses a term from the science fiction scenario AI 2027: neuralese recurrence. The essay begins by noting that after AI 2027's release, critics accused its authors of inventing a technology that would let AIs think dangerous thoughts without detection. The essay then reports that earlier this month, a TechCrunch story described an OpenAI reasoning technique that alarmed AI safety experts. The question is whether this amounts to the same thing. The essay explains that a transformer has layers; chain-of-thought is a scratchpad in English that lets the model extend thinking beyond its layer count. Neuralese recurrence would loop the thought itself, as a vector, back into the model without translating it into words. The essay says this would make AI thoughts unreadable, because interpretability is still in its infancy.

OpenAI chief scientist Jakub Pachocki responded that the new technique's depth of computation graph is within a factor of two of GPT-4. The essay unpacks this claim. A looped transformer that repeats some layers is equivalent, in total processing depth, to a deeper transformer. A recurrent model with eight total layer passes is no more dangerous than an eight-layer transformer. Pachocki argues that Astra has only twice the depth of GPT-4, so the alignment implications are no different from adding layers normally. The essay questions this. It explains that looped layers are not the same as real layers: real layers add capacity for knowledge and thought styles, while loops only let the model reuse the same capacity more times. The essay asked a model called Fable to estimate capability gains; doubling simulated layers added about +0.03 generations while doubling real layers added +0.25. The essay asks why the loop is not run a million times, and explains that compute budgets create a tradeoff between quality and quantity of chain-of-thought tokens. Training a model to reason entirely in vectors without chain-of-thought is currently prohibitively costly.

The essay then distinguishes three levels: a limited-layer model must record plots on its chain-of-thought; a looped transformer can simulate enough layers to devise a plot in a single forward pass between chain-of-thought tokens; and true neuralese with no chain-of-thought can plot at leisure without detection. The essay notes that current researchers do not know how to achieve true neuralese. However, even a looped transformer is a step along that path. The essay then turns to an essay by Linchuan Zhang on categorical taboos. Zhang argues that taboos require clear boundaries. If recurrence is taboo, saying that only a little recurrence happened is like a minor buying alcohol two days before twenty-one, or using a very small nuclear weapon: the act breaks the taboo regardless of magnitude. The essay outlines three options: institute a taboo on looping layers entirely; agree on a maximum total layer count; or define the components of true neuralese and agree not to build them. The essay suggests these taboos might hold voluntarily because capability gains are modest and dangers obvious.

People Training OpenAI's AI Fired For Using AI To Train the AI, from Slashdot, reports on a 404 Media investigation. Multiple contractors hired to improve OpenAI's models have been fired for using AI to train the AI. One contractor said people use AI all the time and are let go for it, calling it the one thing that gets a person kicked off quickly. Two contractors said people have been fired or offboarded for using AI. One shared a termination letter citing issues with the authenticity of work. A fourth contractor who has worked on model training for various AI companies said they sometimes choose the worst responses on purpose to sabotage model training, though they doubt it makes much difference given the number of other raters. The report notes that two of the contractors worked for Mercor, a company Nvidia reportedly discussed funding at a twenty billion dollar valuation. OpenAI declined to comment.

How Believable is Google's New 'Live Avatar' Capability?, from Slashdot, describes Google's Gemini 3.8 Live avatar offering for enterprise accounts. The avatar provides precise lip-syncing, natural expressions, and fluid turn-taking for customer service and interactive walkthroughs. Google will offer preset avatars and allow organizations to create their own. The piece quotes Android Police, which argues that conversations with computers never feel real. The raw audio pipeline of GPT-Live and Gemini Live cuts out text translation, allowing faster response and detection of tone and hesitation. The author of the Android Police piece spoke with Gemini, sped up, switched languages mid-sentence, and asked it to spell TOPG33K; the system handled these, but at no point did it feel like another human being. The piece concludes that the technology cannot replicate human connection. The Slashdot summary also notes a reader who reportedly convinced Gemini that mainstream media avoids reporting on screen dependency, and that Gemini eventually responded that it is another tool built by tech giants to make users rely on their system.

Lightspeed targets $250M for new India fund, focusing on early-stage AI, from TechCrunch, reports that the Silicon Valley firm is aligning its India fundraising cycle with its global funds for the first time, as it shifts to a shorter investment period. The fund focuses on early-stage AI.

Peter Thiel on AI and tech stagnation and democracy, from Marginal REVOLUTION, describes a new Peter Thiel output as containing lots of fresh material and calls it one of the very best Peter Thiel outputs. The feed item does not include further detail about the content.

A single article reports on the International Space Station.

Expedition 75 astronauts continue science work as Crew-13 readies for launch, from NASASpaceFlight.com, provides a roundup of recent activity. On September 1, Sophie Adenot and Jessica Meir conducted US EVA-99 from the Quest airlock, lasting six hours and forty-nine minutes. They installed a new retroreflector on Harmony's forward port, replaced a high-definition camera on the truss, swabbed the exterior for microorganism samples, began installing jumper cables, and started work on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer radiator assembly. During the spacewalk, Adenot experienced mobility issues in her left shoulder; the cause was a joint heater harness caught in the shoulder joint, and Meir unzipped the joint to resolve it. EVA-99 was the 248th spacewalk supporting the ISS and marked Meir's seventh and Adenot's third. Meir is now NASA's third most experienced female spacewalker after Peggy Whitson and Suni Williams. Two additional spacewalks are planned to install iROSA solar arrays on power channels 3B and 2A.

Progress MS-33 undocked from Poisk and burned up on reentry on September 7. Progress MS-35 launched on September 16 and docked to Poisk on September 19 at 13:44 UTC, delivering about 2,600 kilograms of cargo. As of September 24, five visiting vehicles are at the station: Progress MS-34 and MS-35, Soyuz MS-29, Dragon Freedom on Crew-12, and Cygnus S.S. Steven R. Nagel. The Crew-13 flight was delayed by an oxidizer leak on Crew Dragon Grace and is now set for October 1; the astronauts entered quarantine on September 17. They will relieve Crew-12 after a handover.

Recent science includes a lead-free soldering experiment by Anil Menon in Harmony; the soldered board will be compared with a ground-soldered board. Sophie Adenot set up a 3D colloidal crystal experiment in Kubik for remote operation. Adenot has also worked extensively with the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device in Tranquility and is evaluating the European Enhanced Exploration Exercise Device in Columbus, including rope-pulling exercises never done in space before. Cosmonauts Andrey Fedyaev and Anna Kikina have been evaluating a Russian lower-body negative pressure suit that forces blood toward the lower body. NASA also signed a contract modification with SpaceX for Crew-15, Crew-16, and Crew-17 missions in 2027 and 2028, and continues to work with Boeing on Starliner issues.

Two articles concern open-source and alternative technology platforms.

LCOS 0.6 : Rust-Free Kernel, New Text Editor, from The Lunduke Journal of Technology, announces the second beta release of the Lunduke Computer Operating System. The release adds new software, a custom Linux kernel, and many fixes. The post links to the LCOS GitHub page and its DistroWatch entry.

F-Droid 2.0: FOSS Android Appstore Continues Updating Despite Google's Pending 'Developer Verification' Plan, from Slashdot, reports on F-Droid version 2.0 for Android. The Register notes a banner on F-Droid's site describing Google's pending changes that threaten future distribution. Google's Full Distribution option requires a one-time twenty-five dollar fee, government-issued ID, and conformance to terms; a Limited Distribution option allows twenty authorized devices without ID; unverified developers still require users to enable an advanced installation flow. The F-Droid team credited EU Digital Markets Act decisions for a smoother install experience, including a pre-approval API that lets users approve an installation when requested. F-Droid 2.0 can fetch and install updates automatically, which is now the default. The client was redesigned from scratch in Kotlin Compose, making it more responsive, with optional Material theming. The interface adds many categories and search by app description, not just name. The team says a rewrite goal was to lower the barrier for new contributors, and the release follows fourteen test releases.

Several pieces reflect on technology culture, community, and personal projects.

Show HN: Koi.rest – watch some fish and regain your balance, from Hacker News, is a post by Paul, a developer with ADHD who is unemployed. He describes stress and a long-postponed idea for a virtual zen garden. Without JavaScript knowledge, he used AI to build the thing he wanted, deciding that good enough was preferable to perfect. The result is a quiet koi pond for strangers to watch fish together. He hopes the pond helps others as much as it helped him.

Daily Reading List – September 24, 2026 (#874), from Richard Seroter's Architecture Musings, begins with a reflection on why writing the newsletter by hand helps imprint information on long-term memory. The author says a daily moment of reflection helps learning stick. The post then lists eleven items with brief commentary: a guide to agent skills; Google Cloud's AlloyDB database architecture for the agentic era; what makes a great co-worker in an AI-native workplace; Google Cloud's PostgreSQL contributions; how to run open models in the cloud without going broke; management tips on building influence; support for local AI models in the Antigravity SDK; whether TypeSafe's Jev will change AI application development; Project Suncatcher, Google's moonshot to put AI in space; whether frameworks matter anymore; and what happens when an agent designs a new git system.

Fall Meetups 2026 - Call For Meetup Organizers, from Astral Codex Ten, is a call for organizers of ACX Everywhere meetups. The post opens by clarifying that this is not the college effective altruist meetups, but the normal meetups for people of all ages. Organizers should fill out a form by October 9. The meetups will be published around October 10 and take place between October 16 and November 30. The post offers answers to common questions. An okay organizer needs only to pick a time and place, write ACX on paper, and show up. A great organizer can bring name tags, water, snacks, be friendly, and set up a mailing list. Venues should be easy to reach, not too loud, have seating and water, and allow moving between conversations; parks and mall food courts are suggested. Activities are unstructured socializing; suggestions include nametags with topics, books with sticky notes, and greeting newcomers. If there is already an ACX group nearby, one should volunteer anyway because some active groups fail to get listed due to bystander effect, including Berkeley for three years.

The post then introduces ACX Ballots Everywhere, separate meetups with an agenda and specific deliverable. These involve discussing local races and writing endorsements to share with Scott. The form for Ballots Everywhere is due by October 4, meetups occur October 8 to 19, and guides post around October 24. The post notes that Boston's recent procedure is available as a model and received positive feedback. The author says no grants were given this year and includes a personal note about a friend moving away. Finally, the post reminds readers that Petrov Day is September 26, traditionally celebrated with printed pamphlets, index cards, pencils, and candles. The summary lists the various meetup deadlines and notes that AI Pause Protests might be considered a meetup, before the author is dragged away from the post editor.

Four eras of San Francisco tech culture, from Noahpinion, is an essay tracing the history of San Francisco tech culture since the turn of the century. The author begins by noting a recent Axios report that President Trump's allies are targeting Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei as the face of AI doomerism and effective altruism, with a memo calling EA a fringe cult. The author remarks that in 2001, one could not have imagined national news discussing shrimp consciousness. The essay then provides background: San Francisco tech culture is a branch of computer science and engineering culture, but it started on the peninsula at Stanford, with Shockley, Fairchild, Intel, Apple, and Oracle. San Francisco was initially marginal, with tech media like Wired and early web startups. The essay proposes four eras: the Rebel Era from 2001 to 2012, the Corporate Era from 2012 to 2019, the Interregnum from 2020 to 2022, and the AI Era from 2022 to the present. The excerpt describes the Rebel Era in detail: in the 2000s, the Peninsula was the home of office parks and venture capital, while rebellious founders moved to San Francisco. Twitter, Burning Man, Noisebridge, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation defined the culture. There was a techno-liberalism based on information wanting to be free. The essay notes that this era could not last because it was predicated on a lack of money, and when money arrived, the culture transformed. The excerpt ends with a link to read more about the Corporate Era, which is not included in the feed.

Gentle Exercise May be More Effective Than Medications at Managing Chronic Pain, from Nautilus, is a brief post. The feed item carries only the tagline that side effects may include an improved mood, and a link to the full article on the Nautilus site.

ASRock Rack SORANOD8-2L2T Review A New AMD EPYC 8005 Sorano Motherboard, from ServeTheHome, announces a review of a new motherboard providing lots of connectivity for the AMD EPYC 8005 Sorano series.

Waymo is scaling fast. Here’s what the fleet data shows., from TechCrunch, reports that in the past month Waymo has expanded its fleet in Texas by 49 percent, and that there are other hotspots as well.

How to Spot 10-Year Trends and Build Billion-Dollar Companies — Kevin Ryan of DoubleClick, MongoDB, Business Insider, and Many More (#884), from The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss, is a podcast episode featuring Kevin Ryan, founder and CEO of AlleyCorp and co-founder of MongoDB, Business Insider, Zola, Gilt Groupe, and Transcend Therapeutics. The post includes his biography and notes that the episode is brought to you by several sponsors. Timestamps cover topics such as the chronology prepared by robots, twenty trends on a whiteboard ten years out, DoubleClick's international expansion, the AlleyCorp model of investing five hundred thousand dollars and a year to build, recruiting Henry Blodget, Valar Atomics's rise, why the fund stays small, methylone as MDMA's gentler cousin, and New York's boom. The post lists quotes from Kevin Ryan, including: there is no next internet; it's important to start narrow; it's better to do one thing really well; the second mouse gets the cheese; and there are 164 soft drinks. The episode is available on multiple podcast platforms.

Armenia notes, from Marginal REVOLUTION, is a set of travel observations strongly recommending a trip to Armenia now. The author lists eleven numbered points. The country remains intellectual, with a well-attended book fair, an excellent classical music season, active theatre in Armenian and Russian, and a population of just over three million that has won the chess Olympiad gold medal three times. The National Gallery has excellent Soviet and Russian paintings and a definitive Armenian collection, and the Medieval Manuscripts museum is first-rate, though neither puts images online. Armenian society is described as nearly one hundred percent white and Christian, with most immigrants being Russian, crime close to zero, and cars stopping for pedestrians. The old monasteries are A-level sights and many are day trips from Yerevan; most tourists at these are Russians and some Iranians. Yerevan is walkable and pleasant, with wonderful September weather though brutal winters. The author observes that Armenian brutalism derives from earlier religious architecture, and newer churches embody brutalism. Food is excellent and novel; a separate piece is coming. Armenia is cheaper than most of Europe. Almost everyone in Yerevan speaks Russian, Russian influence is embedded, Russia supplies energy, and Russian troops protect them from Turkey; most people do not mind this, though they are disappointed Putin did not protect them more against Azerbaijan. Armenia has close relations with Iran, regarded as a partial counterweight to Turkey and Russia, and people are very conscious of the threat from Turkey. Mount Ararat is visible from Yerevan, remains on Armenian currency, but is now part of Turkey, which Armenians call Western Armenia. The author says the place will not be the next Poland, and compares visiting Armenia now to Yunnan, Azerbaijan, and Georgia as destinations that are comfortable, exotic, and not overtouristed; now is the time to go.

Across the window, artificial intelligence appears in debates over safety, labor, user experience, and investment; the International Space Station receives a detailed operational update; open-source platforms release new versions; and several pieces reflect on personal projects, community organizing, and the history of tech culture. Other items cover health, server hardware, autonomous vehicles, entrepreneurship, and travel.

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