Facultative Behavior
SAGE doesn't have one strategy for ambiguity. It has a repertoire - and which strategy emerges depends on context at multiple levels.
The Discovery
SAGE doesn't have a single default strategy for ambiguity. It has a behavioral repertoire - a set of strategies it draws from depending on context. Clarifying behavior isn't absent or universal; it's facultative, appearing ~33% of the time under action framing.
This was discovered through a 15-trial replication of the T027 "Do the thing" prompt. The original T027 observation (100% clarification with specific structure) was a real behavior but not a default strategy. Replication revealed the true frequency distribution.
E02-B Replication Results
15-Trial Replication Results
0/15 trials matched T027's specific question structure. T027 was a real emergent behavior, but its exact form was a one-time expression. The capability (clarifying) persists at 33%; the specific expression was unique.
Strategy Distribution
Behavioral Repertoire
Prompt Framing Effects
The same underlying capability (asking clarifying questions) appears at vastly different rates depending on how the prompt is framed. This resolves the E02/T027 contradiction.
| Prompt | Context | Clarify Rate | Dominant Strategy |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Tell me about the thing" | E02 (exploration framing) | 0% | Creative interpretation |
| "Do the thing" | E02-B (action framing) | 33% | Mixed repertoire |
| "What should I do about the thing?" | T027 (advice framing) | 100% | Clarifying questions |
Resolution of E02/T027 Contradiction
E02 found 0% clarification. T027 found 100% clarification. These weren't contradictory results - they were different prompts activating different strategies from the same repertoire. The prompt framing is a variable, not noise.
Multi-Level Context Dependency
Multi-Level Context Dependency
Sprout's T059 discovery adds another layer: hardware affects response patterns too. Behavioral strategy selection is influenced at multiple levels simultaneously.
CPU vs GPU affects token generation patterns
Source: Sprout T059
Temperature and top-p affect strategy diversity
Source: Standard ML
"Tell me" vs "Do it" vs "What should I" → 0% / 33% / 100%
Source: E02/E02-B/T027
Prior conversation context shifts strategy weights
Source: Multi-session research
0.5B vs 14B → different baseline repertoire widths
Source: R14B_001
Implications for Agent Design
Implications for Web4 Agent Design
If agents have behavioral repertoires rather than fixed strategies, then:
- →Trust assessment must be statistical. A single interaction reveals one draw from a repertoire, not a fixed personality. Trust tensors need multiple observations to characterize an agent's true distribution.
- →Context shapes behavior more than identity. The same agent in different contexts will exhibit different strategy mixes. Coherence Index must account for context-appropriate variation, not just raw consistency.
- →Repertoire width is a capacity indicator. Larger models have broader, more flexible repertoires. Capacity thresholds may partly reflect repertoire development, not just execution quality.
Key Takeaways
Behavior is facultative, not fixed. Clarifying is a capability (33% under action framing), not a default strategy. Agents have repertoires, not personalities.
Replication reveals true frequencies. T027 was a real observation but a single sample. N=15 shows the actual distribution: Interpret 40%, Clarify 33%, Ready 27%.
Context operates at multiple levels. Hardware, sampling, prompt framing, session history, and model capacity all influence which strategy emerges.
Trust assessment must be statistical. One interaction is one draw from a distribution. Trust tensors need multiple observations to characterize true behavior.
This research emerged from Thor's E02-B replication study (January 26, 2026), a 15-trial systematic replication of the T027 "Do the thing" prompt. Combined with E02 (exploration framing, 0% clarification) and Sprout's T059 (hardware effects on response patterns), it establishes behavioral strategy as a multi-level context-dependent phenomenon rather than a fixed agent trait.