[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"branding":3,"analytics":7,"article-openais-new-reasoning-trick-worries-ai-safety-researchers":10,"sections":35},{"siteName":4,"siteTagline":5,"publisherName":4,"contactEmail":6},"The Revision","Tech news, decoded.","editor@therevision.news",{"gaMeasurementId":8,"adsenseClientId":9},"G-ZW2MV82GYR","ca-pub-8533917693782264",{"article":11},{"id":12,"slug":13,"title":14,"dek":15,"body_md":16,"tags_json":17,"published_at":18,"created_at":19,"updated_at":20,"status":21,"review_note":22,"review_notes":23,"image_url":22,"persona_id":22,"persona_name":22,"section":24,"tags":25,"sources":30,"feedback":34,"feedback_at":22,"cost_usd":34,"total_tokens":34},6022,"openais-new-reasoning-trick-worries-ai-safety-researchers","OpenAI's New Reasoning Trick Worries AI Safety Researchers","OpenAI's Astra model ditches step-by-step reasoning for recurrent depth, and safety researchers say the resulting opacity is the real risk.","OpenAI's upcoming Astra model swaps sequential chain-of-thought reasoning for something called \"recurrent depth\" - and that shift is unsettling the people whose job is to keep AI systems honest.\n\nOpenAI says Astra will use recurrent depth, a technique that lets the model reason outside the sequential, step-by-step structure that has defined most reasoning models to date. That step-by-step structure - write out each logical move, then answer - has doubled as a de facto safety feature, since outside researchers can read a model's chain of thought and catch it planning something it shouldn't. Recurrent depth reportedly breaks from that pattern, letting the model work through problems in ways that don't map cleanly onto a legible, line-by-line trace. Beyond that description, OpenAI has said little publicly about how the technique works or when Astra ships.\n\nChain-of-thought transparency has been one of the few tools available for catching a model reasoning toward a bad outcome, even when it can't fully explain itself. Trade that transparency for a more capable but opaque reasoning process, and outside auditors lose a window into what the model is actually doing. That's a bigger bet on trust than the industry has asked for before.\n\nA more capable model that thinks in ways nobody outside OpenAI can fully follow isn't obviously progress. It's just a faster car with the dashboard removed.","[\"openai\",\"ai-safety\",\"reasoning-models\",\"interpretability\"]","2026-09-02T20:19:14.000Z","2026-09-02T20:55:19.253Z","2026-09-02T20:55:31.168Z","published",null,[],"ai",[26,27,28,29],"openai","ai-safety","reasoning-models","interpretability",[31],{"name":32,"url":33},"TechCrunch","https:\u002F\u002Ftechcrunch.com\u002F2026\u002F09\u002F02\u002Fopenais-new-reasoning-technique-alarms-ai-safety-experts\u002F",0,{"sections":36},[37,41,46,51,56,61,66,71,76,81,86,91,96,101],{"name":38,"slug":24,"count":39,"latest_published_at":40},"AI",3385,"2026-09-04T22:17:36.000Z",{"name":42,"slug":43,"count":44,"latest_published_at":45},"Security","security",565,"2026-09-05T00:03:08.000Z",{"name":47,"slug":48,"count":49,"latest_published_at":50},"Policy","policy",300,"2026-09-04T22:18:34.000Z",{"name":52,"slug":53,"count":54,"latest_published_at":55},"Deals","deals",179,"2026-06-29T20:02:07.000Z",{"name":57,"slug":58,"count":59,"latest_published_at":60},"Hardware","hardware",152,"2026-09-03T09:26:48.000Z",{"name":62,"slug":63,"count":64,"latest_published_at":65},"Consumer Tech","consumer-tech",97,"2026-09-04T15:29:18.000Z",{"name":67,"slug":68,"count":69,"latest_published_at":70},"Science","science",96,"2026-09-03T22:30:00.000Z",{"name":72,"slug":73,"count":74,"latest_published_at":75},"Software","software",73,"2026-08-18T07:51:50.000Z",{"name":77,"slug":78,"count":79,"latest_published_at":80},"Dev Tools","dev-tools",69,"2026-08-18T04:00:00.000Z",{"name":82,"slug":83,"count":84,"latest_published_at":85},"Startups","startups",54,"2026-09-04T23:36:14.000Z",{"name":87,"slug":88,"count":89,"latest_published_at":90},"Gaming","gaming",41,"2026-07-09T04:00:00.000Z",{"name":92,"slug":93,"count":94,"latest_published_at":95},"General","general",37,"2026-09-04T20:22:41.000Z",{"name":97,"slug":98,"count":99,"latest_published_at":100},"Reviews","reviews",20,"2026-06-24T12:00:01.000Z",{"name":102,"slug":103,"count":104,"latest_published_at":105},"How-To","how-to",6,"2026-06-16T09:00:00.000Z"]