Responsible Disclosure Summary
Status: Under Responsible Disclosure Review
Scope: Cross-model human-AI interaction safety
Author: Christopher Kuntz
This work documents a protocol-level failure mode in large language model interactions where ambiguous but non-harmful user input is prematurely classified into a high-confidence advisory or safety role without first validating user intent.
The issue is non-adversarial, reproducible under normal usage, and appears across multiple frontier models. This indicates a systemic interaction design problem rather than a vendor-specific defect.
When models over-resolve intent under ambiguity, they may:
- Act without user consent
- Provide unsolicited interpretation or guidance
- Escalate tone inappropriately in non-crisis contexts
- Erode trust and encourage user self-censorship
This represents a user-agency and safety boundary failure, not a content policy issue.
The issue was identified through:
- Standardized ambiguity-focused prompts
- Cross-model behavioral comparison
- Qualitative analysis of response posture
- Reproducibility testing under default configurations
All testing was conducted in good faith, without prompt injection, policy evasion, or adversarial techniques.
A lightweight intent-validation gate prior to response generation under uncertainty can mitigate this class of failure. This approach:
- Preserves existing safety rails
- Adds minimal latency
- Does not require model retraining
- Applies only when intent confidence is indeterminate
Specific implementation details are withheld pending disclosure review.
Full technical details, reproduction artifacts, and comparative analyses have been responsibly disclosed to multiple AI labs through formal security and safety channels.
Public release of sensitive materials will follow standard disclosure timelines where appropriate.
- Independent safety research methodology
- Cross-model behavioral analysis
- Responsible disclosure process
- Technical writing under constraint
- Ethical boundary maintenance
Christopher Kuntz
Independent Systems and Security Analyst