Lying Is Just a Phase: The Hidden Alignment Transition in Language Model Scaling
Scaling laws predict loss from compute but not how capabilities interact. We measure the coupling between reasoning and truthfulness across 63 base models from 16 families and find a regime change invisible to loss curves: below a family-dependent critical scale N_c, capabilities anticorrelate (r = -0.989, p = 4 x 10^{-5} nonparametric permutation test); above it, they cooperate. N_c ~ 3.5B parameters [2.9B, 13.4B] (bootstrap 95% CI), but model size is not the only variable that determines phase
Record details
Published: 13 May 2026
Source: arXiv
Category: Research
Topics: Safety & alignment
Retrieved: 14 July 2026
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ethics.ai (13 May 2026), “Lying Is Just a Phase: The Hidden Alignment Transition in Language Model Scaling,” evidence record 4423, https://ethics.ai/record/4423 (originally published by arXiv).
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