Initial upload: papers on proxy optimization, evaluation, and AI alignment

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+cognitive-workflows-reducing-proxy-optimization.pdf filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+drift-fidelity-index-ai-alignment-measurement.pdf filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+proxy-optimization-diagnostic-hidden-drift.pdf filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+reality-constrained-systems-ai-alignment.pdf filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text

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README.md

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+# Alignment, Proxies, and Real-World Grounding in AI Systems
+
+A small collection of papers examining a common failure mode in modern systems:
+
+As systems scale, they become increasingly effective at optimizing measurable indicators (metrics, benchmarks, proxies), while gradually losing alignment with the real-world conditions those indicators are meant to represent.
+
+This repository focuses on that gap.
+
+Rather than evaluating model performance in isolation, these documents explore how AI systems and decision processes behave once they are embedded in real environments — where optimization, abstraction, and mediation can introduce subtle but compounding misalignment.
+
 ---
-license: mit
+
+## Contents
+
+### 1. Reality-Constrained Systems
+
+**File:** `reality-constrained-systems-ai-alignment.pdf`
+
+A structural framework for maintaining alignment between system outputs and real-world conditions.
+
+Introduces three components:
+
+- reality anchors (external grounding)
+- cognitive constraints (reasoning structure)
+- drift diagnostics (misalignment detection)
+
 ---
+
+### 2. Drift/Fidelity Index
+
+**File:** `drift-fidelity-index-ai-alignment-measurement.pdf`
+
+A measurement framework for evaluating whether systems remain grounded in reality after deployment.
+
+Defines four dimensions:
+
+- constraint integrity
+- representational fidelity
+- experiential grounding
+- cognitive and organizational impact
+
+Focuses on a gap in current evaluation: we measure model performance, but not how system outputs affect real-world alignment over time.
+
+---
+
+### 3. Cognitive Workflows
+
+**File:** `cognitive-workflows-reducing-proxy-optimization.pdf`
+
+A structured approach to reasoning in environments where decisions depend on indirect or incomplete information.
+
+Designed to reduce proxy optimization by:
+
+- explicitly defining the underlying reality
+- identifying where inputs diverge from that reality
+- stress testing conclusions before acceptance
+
+Applicable to both human and AI-assisted reasoning.
+
+---
+
+### 4. Proxy Optimization Diagnostic
+
+**File:** `proxy-optimization-diagnostic-hidden-drift.pdf`
+
+A simple diagnostic for identifying when systems are optimizing measurable proxies instead of underlying outcomes.
+
+This failure mode appears across:
+
+- machine learning systems (benchmark vs real-world performance)
+- product metrics (engagement vs user value)
+- organizational KPIs (targets vs outcomes)
+
+---
+
+## Core Idea
+
+Many modern systems do not fail through obvious error.
+
+They fail by continuing to function while gradually losing alignment with the realities they are meant to reflect.
+
+Performance improves. Outputs remain coherent. Metrics move in the right direction.
+
+But the connection to real-world conditions weakens.
+
+---
+
+## Scope
+
+These documents are not focused on model architecture or training techniques.
+
+They focus on:
+
+- post-deployment behavior
+- evaluation gaps in real-world environments
+- system-level failure modes under optimization pressure
+- reasoning and decision structure
+
+---
+
+## Positioning
+
+This repository is intended as a set of working artifacts for thinking about:
+
+- AI alignment beyond benchmark performance
+- evaluation of systems embedded in real environments
+- proxy optimization and metric-driven drift
+- maintaining grounding under scale and abstraction
+
+---
+
+## Notes
+
+- These are conceptual and structural frameworks, not empirical benchmarks
+- Terminology is kept minimal and grounded in existing system design and evaluation language
+- Documents are designed to be modular and used independently
+
+---
+
+## Author
+
+A. Jacobs  
+2026

cognitive-workflows-reducing-proxy-optimization.pdf

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dataset_card.md

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+## Dataset Summary
+
+This repository contains a set of conceptual and structural documents focused on alignment in AI systems and decision processes.
+
+The materials are intended for:
+
+- researchers exploring evaluation beyond benchmarks
+- practitioners working with AI systems in production environments
+- anyone dealing with metric-driven or proxy-based systems
+
+## Intended Use
+
+These documents are not training data or labeled datasets.
+
+They are intended as:
+
+- conceptual references
+- evaluation frameworks
+- system design heuristics
+
+## Limitations
+
+These are not empirical studies or benchmark results.
+
+They do not provide quantitative validation, but instead focus on structural patterns and failure modes observed across systems.

drift-fidelity-index-ai-alignment-measurement.pdf

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index.md

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+# Index
+
+This repository is organized into four components:
+
+- Core system framework → reality-constrained-systems-ai-alignment.pdf
+- Measurement framework → drift-fidelity-index-ai-alignment-measurement.pdf
+- Reasoning methods → cognitive-workflows-reducing-proxy-optimization.pdf
+- Diagnostic tool → proxy-optimization-diagnostic-hidden-drift.pdf
+
+Together, these form a minimal system for identifying, analyzing, and reducing alignment drift in AI and decision systems.

proxy-optimization-diagnostic-hidden-drift.pdf

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reality-constrained-systems-ai-alignment.pdf

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