{
  "ok": true,
  "data": {
    "entry": {
      "id": "circuit-tracing-is-partial",
      "kind": "method",
      "kindLabel": "Method",
      "title": "Circuit tracing gives hypotheses before certainty",
      "body": "A circuit diagram can make a model feel legible, but the diagram is not the final answer. Treat each path as a hypothesis: this feature may have helped cause this behavior. Then test it with interventions or outside evidence.",
      "tag": "interpretability",
      "date": "2026 · 06 · 30",
      "publishedAt": "2026-06-30",
      "note": null,
      "insight": {
        "aha": "A circuit trace becomes persuasive when changing the suspected component changes the behavior you care about.",
        "tryThis": "Write one circuit-tracing claim as a hypothesis, then name the intervention or output check that would test it.",
        "watchFor": [
          "Beautiful attribution paths with no behavioral intervention",
          "Feature labels that sound more precise than the evidence",
          "Ignoring alternative circuits that could explain the same output"
        ],
        "labId": "activation-patching"
      },
      "extended": [
        "Modern interpretability is moving from screenshots of attention to causal stories about features and pathways. That is progress, but it also creates a new trap: the story can look more complete than the evidence.",
        "A good field demo should label each layer: observed output, suspected feature, traced path, causal test, and external receipt. Readers should be able to say which part is a clue and which part actually changed the model's behavior.",
        "This habit prevents interpretability theater. The beautiful graph earns trust only when it survives a behavioral check."
      ],
      "url": "https://tips.platphormnews.com/entries/circuit-tracing-is-partial"
    }
  }
}