Control-signal dilution is an operational execution failure mode in long-horizon agents where the guiding influence of a compact plan and its completion criteria weakens over time. As execution tokens accumulate in an append-only context from commands, observations, and intermediate repairs, the high-level plan receives diminishing attention weight, increasing the likelihood that the agent wanders, repeats unproductive actions, or terminates prematurely.

Control-Signal Dilution

Mutable-state ambiguity is an execution failure condition where completed goals, pending dependencies, failed attempts, and valid next actions must be reconstructed by the agent from an append-only history rather than read directly from an authoritative current state. In workflows with loops, branching, and repeated repairs, interleaved historical updates make determining the live system state ambiguous and error-prone.

Mutable-State Ambiguity

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Ch.1 Operational Reliability and Verification - Engineering Deterministic Runtimes and Verification for Autonomous Agents @ University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Operational Failure Modes: Control-Signal Dilution and Mutable-State Ambiguity - Engineering Deterministic Runtimes and Verification for Autonomous Agents @ University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Verification Typologies and Transition Protocols - Engineering Deterministic Runtimes and Verification for Autonomous Agents @ University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

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