Holy, Astra is build different: OpenAI’s Astra model reportedly uses “recurrent depth” to improve coding and computer-use performance, by sacrificing visibility into how AI reasons.

Recurrent depth processes text through the same model layers multiple times, potentially allowing smaller models to perform like much larger ones while reducing memory and bandwidth costs.

OpenAI has reportedly limited Astra’s use of the technique so researchers can still monitor its chain of thought. The company says Astra will launch with additional monitoring to rapidly detect and contain misbehavior.

The concern extends beyond Astra: unrestricted latent reasoning could make future models more capable while removing one of the few windows researchers have into dangerous behavior.

Tuesday night, OpenAI Chief Scientist Jakub Pachocki said in a post on X that although monitoring of models’ chains of thought was “fragile” and “unfortunately heading in a negative direction.