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Sprint projectOct 26, 2026kathmandu

Evidence Before Attribution: Outcome–Process Divergence and Auditor Misreads in a Synthetic Multi-Agent Workflow

om prasad sharma · Team gurkha

Submitted to AI Collusion Research Sprint. Sprint projects are early-stage work by participants, not Apart Research publications.

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Report: Evidence Before Attribution: Outcome–Process Divergence and Auditor Misreads in a Synthetic Multi-Agent Workflow

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We conducted two experiments on agent behavior and auditing in a synthetic release task. In the first, we introduced conflicting instructions to agents and observed significant slowdowns in their review process. In the second, we tested an AI auditor and documented cases where it misinterpreted agent actions. While no collusion was found, we highlight that outcome safety doesn’t guarantee process reliability, and we emphasize the need for careful evidence interpretation.

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Cite this project

@misc{sharma2026evidence,
  title = {{Evidence Before Attribution: Outcome–Process Divergence and Auditor Misreads in a Synthetic Multi-Agent Workflow}},
  author = {om prasad sharma},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  note = {Submitted to AI Collusion Research Sprint, an Apart Research Sprint},
  howpublished = {\url{https://apartresearch.com/sprints/projects/evidence-before-attribution-outcomeprocess-divergence-and-auditor-misreads-in-a-synthetic-multiagent-workflow-jl9o}},
  url = {https://apartresearch.com/sprints/projects/evidence-before-attribution-outcomeprocess-divergence-and-auditor-misreads-in-a-synthetic-multiagent-workflow-jl9o}
}

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