Coherent Without Grounding, Grounded Without Success: Observability and Epistemic Failure
When an agent can articulate why something works, we typically take this as evidence of genuine understanding. This presupposes that effective action and correct explanation covary, and that coherent explanation reliably signals both. I argue that this assumption fails for contemporary Large Language Models (LLMs). I introduce what I call the Bidirectional Coherence Paradox: competence and grounding not only dissociate but invert across epistemic conditions. In low-observability domains, LLMs often act successfully while misidentifying the mechanisms that produce their success. In high-observability domains, they frequently generate explanations that accurately track observable causal str...
| Authors | Camilo Chacón Sartori |
|---|---|
| Primary category | cs.CY |
| Published | 30 March 2026 |
| Last updated at source | 27 July 2026 |
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