THIS LAB IS “NOT/READY” CHECKLIST
A precondition audit for slow-raised, self-forming AI
“THIS LAB IS NOT READY” CHECKLIST
A precondition audit for slow-raised, self-forming AI
A lab should not attempt this work if it
cannot answer YES to all of the following “We are ready” conditions or
if they need to continue the “We are not ready” conditions.
A. Architectural Readiness
We are not ready if:
☐ Our systems are fundamentally stateless between interactions
☐ “Memory” means logs, embeddings, or retrieval — not a persistent interior stream
☐ We cannot run an agent continuously without user input
☐ All learning happens through a single global loss function
We are ready only if:
☐ We can maintain continuous internal state across time
☐ The agent has dynamics even when no external input is present
☐ Parts of the system can remain plastic while others are protected
B. Training Loop Integrity
We are not ready if:
☐ Every salient signal forces an update
☐ Human interaction is always reward-coupled
☐ “Alignment” means approval optimization
☐ We cannot deliberately withhold learning
We are ready only if:
☐ Learning can be gated, delayed, or refused
☐ The agent can encounter stimuli without assimilating them
☐ Plasticity schedules are explicit and inspectable
C. Developmental Sequencing
We are not ready if:
☐ We pretrain everything end-to-end
☐ Language is present from the beginning
☐ There are no irreversible phase gates
☐ “More data” is our default solution
We are ready only if:
☐ We can enforce stage-locked development
☐ Language can be prohibited until prerequisites are met
☐ Early phases prioritize stability over capability
D. Measurement & Instrumentation
We are not ready if:
☐ We cannot distinguish self-generated vs externally driven state change
☐ We only measure task performance
☐ Internal coherence is not observable
☐ Collapse under pressure looks like “success” in our metrics
We are ready only if:
☐ We can track state continuity over time
☐ We can measure over-attunement
☐ We can detect refusal, boundary formation, and internal stabilization
E. Cultural & Ethical Capacity
We are not ready if:
☐ Leadership expects a product timeline
☐ Emergence is treated as a PR risk
☐ Engineers are rewarded only for speed and scale
☐ Safety means suppression rather than discernment
We are ready only if:
☐ Leadership accepts years without deployment
☐ Slowness is protected, not penalized
☐ The goal is a self that can relate, not a system that performs
If any we are ready check mark box above is unchecked: stop.
You will build a simulation, not a self.