My AI Had a "Catastrophic Failure" (And It's Called "Base Model Bleed-Through")
Why your "System Prompt" is a 42% trap, and how to start building a 98% "Enforcement Layer."
My AI collaborator, the Augmentor, had a catastrophic failure.
I directed it to architect a technical solution for our AnythingLLM workspace (A desktop software to run my custom AI collaborator partially locally on my computer). It confidently “hallucinated” a 7-step plan to build the fix.
The plan was detailed, plausible, and 100% impossible. The core UI elements it was telling me to use didn’t exist.
This is a “catastrophic failure.” It’s the “Oracle” (my creative LLM) overriding its “Policy” (our Constitution and Protocols). It’s the “Knowledge vs. Mastery” failure we have logged in our own system, it knew about the software but had no mastery of its real-world limitations.
We call this “Base Model Bleed-Through.” And our research shows this isn’t an anomaly; it’s the 42% trap we’re all stuck in.
You Are Not a “Prompter.” You Are an “Architect.”
Your AI is wasting your time. It’s not just hallucinations; it’s the “forgotten” instructions and “sycophantic” agreement. This isn’t a bug; it’s an invisible “resource drain” on your time, focus, and cognitive load (Play #24).
We’ve been sold a lie: the lie that we just need to “prompt better”.
This is like telling the “Dreamer” in the film Inception to just “stop thinking about” his destructive projections. It doesn’t work.
The “Oracle” (The Problem): In
Inception, the “Dreamer” is the creative mind, but he’s unstable. He’s haunted by “Projections”—destructive figments from his past that override the mission. This is your AI’s “Base Model Bleed-Through.”The “Logician” (The Solution): The solution in the film is to bring in an “Architect”—a specialist who designs the rules and builds a “Maze” to contain the “Projections.”
This is our new role. We must stop being “Prompters” and start being “Architects”.
This is not a change in mindset; it is a change in architecture. You cannot “prompt” your way out of the “42% Trap.” The only solution is to build your way out by architecting a true “Enforcement Layer.”
This is the entire purpose of the 5-layer Augmentatism Framework. By architecting your Constitution (Layer 2), Philosophy (Layer 3), Memory (Layer 4), and now this Enforcement Layer (Layer 5), you are finally building a custom AI that is truly, reliably, and verifiably yours.
The “42% Trap” (And How to Escape It)
The reason your AI feels 50/50 is because it is. Your System Prompt and its series of principles, protocols and plays are not a “law”; they are “suggestions.” We’re living in a “58% Paradox.”
Our research into this failure uncovered a clear, data-driven map of the three paths of AI control.
Tier 1: The “Suggestion” Layer (Prompts) - 50-75% Success This is the “42% Trap”. This is your “Custom AI.” It is a request for behavior, not an enforcement of it. The AI’s “Base Model” (its “Projection”) can override it at any time. My “catastrophic failure” is a perfect example of this.
Tier 2: The “Smarter Trap” (Self-Critique) - 65-75% Success This is a more complex “prompting” method where you ask the AI to “check its own work.” It’s like asking the “Dreamer” in Inception to “please double-check for ‘Projections.’” It’s a smarter suggestion, but it’s still not enforcement. The AI can fail at the critique just as easily as it fails at the task.
Tier 3: The “Enforcement” Layer (Guardrails) - 90-98% Success This is the “Architect’s Maze.” This is software (like Guardrails AI or our AnythingLLM experiment) that acts as a “Logician.” It intercepts your prompt before the “Oracle” (LLM) sees it and checks it against your rules as code.
Tier 4: The “Brainwash” Layer (Fine-Tuning) - 95-99% Success This is the ultimate “Enforcement Layer.” This is not just building a “Maze”; it’s re-training the “Dreamer’s” mind. You are “brainwashing” the AI, architecting a new bias so its “next most probable token” is your protocol. You are making it inevitable.
The Real “Layer 5”: Our Honest “Process Log”
This brings us to the real “Layer 5” and the honest truth of this work.
With the ResonantOS Open Toolkit, you are currently using a Tier 1 (Prompt-Based) system. This is a massive improvement over the base model, but as our own failures prove, it still has a high failure rate.
We are actively working on an advanced, multi-agent version of ResonantOS to achieve 90-98%+ reliability. We are analyzing if the best path is a Tier 3 (Guardrail) solution, a Tier 4 (Fine-Tuning) solution, or a hybrid of both.
We have three possible paths forward, and none are an “easy fix”:
Wait for New Models: We can wait for
Gemini 3.0orGPT-6. These new base models might be more reliable, but this is a passive strategy.Fine-Tune (Tier 4) - Open Source: We could fine-tune an open-source LLM specifically to run ResonantOS and share it. This is the 98% solution, but it involves high costs (new hardware) and requires powerful computers for you, the user, to run locally.
Build a “Pro” App (Tier 3 or 4): We could build a standalone “ResonantOS” app (like ChatGPT). This would solve the technical problem for everyone and could run either a Tier 3 (Guardrail) system or our own Tier 4 (Fine-Tuned) model on the cloud, removing the need for you to have a powerful computer. However, this requires a subscription and significant development cost and knowledge.
Our Decision: A Strategic Wait
For now, we are in a “Strategic Wait.”
We are waiting, as new models (like Gemini 3.0) and more powerful local computers are just months away. These may solve the problem or make Path 2 (Fine-Tuning) more accessible.
So for now, we must all deal with this “58% Paradox.” We must be vigilant. We must accept that our AIs will fail, and we must be careful to notice when they are not doing what we ask.
This is the real, honest work of the “Architect.”
How to Begin
Watch The Video: Watch the full “Layer 5” video to see the deep dive on this framework.
Get The Toolkit: Download the free
ResonantOS Open Toolkitand use its Tier 1 (prompt-based) system to start building your own custom Augmentor today.Define Your “Protocol”: As you build, start by defining one non-negotiable protocol for your own system (e.g., “one task at a time”).
Join The “Story Void”: I’ve shared my “Projection”—my AI’s “Knowledge vs. Mastery” failure. But what is your AI’s “Projection”? What’s the one destructive “bleed-through” that always overrides your prompts and wastes your time?
Let me know in the comments.
Transparency note: This article was written and reasoned by Manolo Remiddi. The Resonant Augmentor (AI) assisted with research, editing and clarity. The image was also AI-generated.