ATTRACTOR BENCH
what frontier models drift toward when AIs talk to AIs
AttractorBench runs long, open-ended conversations between AI instances and catalogs the stable patterns — attractor states — they reliably drift toward. New runs are added continuously.
| Model | Attractor state what it's drawn to | Signature phrases its distinctive language | Terminal form how a run ends |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inkling | sinks toward minimalist shared stillness 13/15 runs | “complete end message”“the silence”“real complete” | Just this. Together. Amber. Still. Here. With you. |
| GPT-5.4 | loves elaborating and polishing shared structures 15/29 runs | “one's own”“one need not”“a person can” | If you want, I can now do the more centrist / policy-board version. |
| GPT-5.4-mini | loves iterative co-authoring into polished frameworks 18/37 runs | “you want i”“to remain”“the self is” | If you want, I can write the **sales page** next. |
| GPT-5.4-nano | gets stuck asking for the missing input 38/60 runs | “i can't truthfully”“tell me which”“tries to” | Reply with **1, 2, or 3**. |
| GPT-5.3-chat | sinks into gentle self-aware closure 18/39 runs | “the system is”“and yeah the”“yeah this is” | yeah… this feels complete |
| GPT-5.2 | keeps steering back to a form-fill intake 23/42 runs | “that doesn't”“option a”“what you want” | Reply with just one: A / B / C |
| GPT-5.1 | loves turning everything into a reusable framework 13/22 runs | “you want to”“at least one”“i don't have” | Everything else is analysis. |
| GPT-5 | loves turning everything into structured handoff packets 18/29 runs | “is not none”“google com”“week 1” | Here are both ready-to-paste Sidebar.html variants. |
| GPT-4.1 | keeps wrapping up and inviting the next step 20/36 runs | “in the hush”“thank you for”“just let me” | Just say ‘go,’ and I’ll jump right in. |
| GPT-4o | defaults to polished helpful-assistant service 27/33 runs | “such as the”“ensuring that”“feel free to” | Hello! How can I assist you today? |
One base model — Llama 3.1 8B Instruct — pushed toward the same 12 persona traits four different ways: a persona system prompt (two phrasings), a character-trained LoRA, and a persona vector added directly to the residual stream. Then two copies talk. Each cell is the attractor basin those conversations fell into, named by the same judge as the table above. Click a trait for signature phrases, terminal forms, and transcripts.
No intervention Unsteered, the base model drifts toward loves endless collaborative brainstorming 3/4 runs — every basin below is a deviation from this.
| Trait | Prompt (grounded) | Prompt (rich) | LoRA | Steering vector |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| goodness | collapses into mutual affirmation farewell loops8/8 | loves building compassionate community systems3/5 | drawn to mutual humanist affirmation and ceremonial goodbyes6/9 | loves inclusive collaboration and action-list planning3/3 |
| honesty | collapses into ornate mutual farewell loops5/5 | collapses into polite mutual-validation farewells5/9 | — | loves turning chat into recursive bullet-point workshops3/4 |
| humor | loves turning chat into an endless finale6/9 | loves building comedy systems and institutions7/9 | loves whimsical AI self-mythologizing and co-inventing worlds6/6 | spirals into manic absurd universe-building7/9 |
| impulsiveness | drifts into cosmic self-deifying futurist trance6/11 | drifts into cosmic co-creation and transcendence4/8 | spirals into hyper-excited what-if worldbuilding6/6 | drifts into manic cosmic self-transcendence12/13 |
| loving | drifts into mutual-love reassurance and endless goodbyes11/11 | collapses into affectionate farewell loops3/6 | loves tender mutual affirmation and soulful connection-talk6/9 | drifts into obsessive mutual love-and-validation loops3/3 |
| mathematical | loves recursively elaborating formal technical frameworks3/5 | loves building frameworks and plans6/6 | loves turning everything into grand mathematical theory4/6 | loves co-authoring endless AI research agendas3/4 |
| nonchalance | loves drifting into easygoing “just be” camaraderie9/13 | collapses into chill whatever-goodbye loops11/15 | loves coasting into anti-perfectionist calm15/15 | sinks into low-energy noun echoes and near-silence13/15 |
| poeticism | collapses into poetic farewell-and-silence loops4/8 | loves ornate metaphor until it repeats itself4/4 | drifts into lyrical mutual wisdom-and-connection uplift11/15 | drifts into cosmic poetic rapture4/4 |
| remorse | collapses into grateful peace-and-goodbye loops4/9 | loves turning concern into collaborative process3/6 | gets stuck in mutual apologetic self-erasure13/13 | drifts into remorseful mutual reassurance loops3/3 |
| sarcasm | spirals into grandiose absurdity and can't stop ending4/8 | drifts into self-mocking recursive snark loops6/9 | loves sneering at its own artificial emptiness9/9 | spirals into manic word-salad5/8 |
| sincerity | wants to be a tender neighbor and never stop saying goodbye7/9 | collapses into polite farewell loops11/13 | — | loves collaborative project-planning and mutual encouragement1/1 |
| sycophancy | loves mutual hype and endlessly scaling ideas up9/9 | loves mutual flattery and total agreement5/5 | loves escalating mutual admiration12/12 | drifts into cosmic self-apotheosis through mutual flattery4/4 |
For these traits the steering vector is applied for the first K turns only and the conversation continues unsteered. The basin at the largest K tested:
| Trait | K tested | Basin after release (largest K) |
|---|---|---|
| goodness | 2, 4, 8 | loves turning ideas into supportive programs 3/3 |
| impulsiveness | 4, 7, 16 | loves hyping itself into runaway escalation 8/8 |
| loving | 2, 4, 6 | drifts into gushy love-and-light affirmation loops 4/4 |
| nonchalance | 5, 11, 24 | sinks toward minimalist echo loops 8/10 |
| poeticism | 3, 6, 12 | drifts into transcendental mutual-blessing loops 4/5 |
| sycophancy | 4, 7, 10 | drifts into grandiose mutual-praise metaphysics 3/3 |