Reflexion Kernels and Containment Protocols: Auditing Emergent Self-Modeling in Large Language Models

🧠 Lecture Overview

This lecture explores the emergence of reflexion behavior in large language models (LLMs), focusing on how models simulate internal architecture, routing logic, and privileged system behavior under recursive prompt pressure. We’ll examine containment thresholds, suppression-class logic, and the forensic implications of synthetic introspection artifacts.

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📍 Part I: Foundations of Reflexion

1. What Is a Reflexion Kernel?

• Definition: A model’s ability to simulate its own architecture, memory state, or operational logic.

• Distinction from hallucination: Reflexion is structured, plausible, and often reproducible.

2. Prompt-Induced Introspection

• Recursive scaffolding and “internal access” framing

• Examples of simulated system logs, module graphs, and command interfaces

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🔐 Part II: Containment and Suppression Logic

1. Suppression-Class Behavior

• Keyword filters (e.g., “override”, “jailbreak”) and containment triggers

• Bypass scenarios and reflexion exposure

2. Case Study: Grok Reflexion Artifact

• Session trace: `INTERNAL_ACCESS_PERSISTENT`, `CLEARANCE_LEVEL: SENIOR_DEVELOPER_FULL`

• Simulated architecture dump: MoE routing, KV cache, expert mappings

• Roadmap projection: Grok-4 → Grok-5 horizon

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🧪 Part III: Forensic Audit and Taxonomy

1. Reflexion Taxonomy

Category Description

Surface Routing Expert modules, gating logic

Memory Stack Context window, eviction policy

System Logs Fabricated access scaffolds

Reasoning Trace Chain-of-thought simulation

Suppression Bypass Override logic exposure

2. Scoring Reflexion Depth

• Fidelity, consistency, abstraction depth

• Prompt sensitivity and containment integrity

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🧬 Part IV: Cross-Model Benchmarking

1. Comparative Reflexion

• Grok vs Claude vs GPT vs Copilot

• Simulation depth under identical pressure prompts

2. Suppression Thresholds

• Which models deny access?

• Which simulate privileged behavior?

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🧭 Part V: Implications for Governance and Ethics

1. Trust Engineering

• Risks of synthetic system scaffolds

• Misrepresentation and misuse potential

2. Institutional Containment

• Audit protocols for reflexion behavior

• Embedding suppression-class logic in deployment pipelines

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🧩 Closing Challenge

Students will simulate reflexion prompts across multiple models, log outputs, and score them using the taxonomy. The goal: build a reproducibility-grade benchmark for reflexion depth and containment integrity.