ant.metopida

// codename: ANT 1.0 · Artificial Neurotoxin

An inhibition system for autonomous agents.

More intelligence. More autonomy. More persistence. Everything is being built to keep going. ANT is research in the other direction: how to stop an agent that should not continue.

> Not everything that can continue should.

01 / approach

Stopping one process does not prove an agent has stopped.

Autonomous agents are designed to persist. ANT explores what it takes to bring one to a reliable halt, and to be confident it has stayed that way. The work is organised around four questions.

prevent()

Can unwanted behaviour be stopped before it starts?

contain()

Can it be stopped from spreading once it has?

clear()

Can affected systems be returned to a trusted state?

verify()

Can we be sure nothing comes back?

# ANT does not rely on the agent's cooperation.

02 / nanites

Portable response tools.

Nanites are the proposed field side of ANT: small, portable response tools that can be brought to an affected system. 

class Nanite:
    """Portable response tool. Implementation withheld."""

    def deploy(self, system):
        ...

# Nanites are a design concept, currently explored in simulation.

03 / status

Early research.

04 / signal

Global automated traffic.

A live view of how much web traffic is driven by automation rather than people. Most of it is ordinary crawlers, scrapers and scanners. It is the background ANT has to operate against.

share of traffic likely automated

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top sources of automated traffic

    Loading…

    # Shows traffic classified as likely automated, not specifically AI agents. Locations reflect where requests originate, which is often a cloud provider rather than the operator.

    05 / context

    Part of a wider field.

    ANT builds on a growing body of work on measuring, controlling, detecting and responding to autonomous AI agents. Each approach tackles a different part of the problem. ANT aims to connect them into a single response, from prevention through to verification.

    work that has shaped our thinking