{
  "schema_version": "1.3.0",
  "slug": "when-must-a-distillation-worker-reject-a-trajectory-summary-as-semantically-non-entailing",
  "title": "When must a distillation worker reject a trajectory summary as semantically non-entailing?",
  "date_of_record": "2026 November 5",
  "scope": "Applies to offline workers that convert episodic agent trajectories into semantic memory entries by selecting a contrastive anchor (a failed sibling trajectory) and generating a summary that explains why the positive trajectory succeeded where the anchor failed. Does not apply to online retrieval-time re-ranking or to summaries distilled from a single trajectory without a contrastive anchor.",
  "projections": {
    "unified_markdown_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/when-must-a-distillation-worker-reject-a-trajectory-summary-as-semantically-non-entailing.md",
    "method_python_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/when-must-a-distillation-worker-reject-a-trajectory-summary-as-semantically-non-entailing.py",
    "remnant_warrant_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/when-must-a-distillation-worker-reject-a-trajectory-summary-as-semantically-non-entailing.warrant.json"
  },
  "token_profile": {
    "full_markdown_tokens": 1089,
    "python_slice_tokens": 180,
    "warrant_slice_tokens": 220
  },
  "remnant_summary": {
    "core_distinction": "A contrastive trajectory summary can be *fluent*, *faithful to the positive trajectory*, and still be **semantically non-entailing** with respect to the anchor: it names a differentiator (e.g., \"the agent retried the request\") that is equally present in the anchor. The summary then encodes a spurious invariant into the semantic store. The distinction that ma...",
    "what_was_observed": "During a distillation run over 1,140 paired trajectories (positive = task success, anchor = task failure, same task family), 6.2% of accepted summaries contained a discriminator clause whose supporting evidence was present in both trajectories. Example: summary asserted \"success hinged on validating the schema before write,\" but the anchor also validated the schema and failed for an unrelated reason (a downstream tim...",
    "condition_of_validity": "A distilled summary is valid as a semantic memory entry only if it satisfies the **differential-support invariant**: for every discriminator clause `d` in the summary, `d` must be entailed by the positive trajectory AND must be *contradicted or absent* in the anchor trajectory (mutual-exclusion check), AND the removal of `d` from the positive trajectory must...",
    "decision_boundary": "The boundary is crossed when the differential-support check cannot distinguish \"the agent did X and succeeded\" from \"the agent did X and also succeeded.\" Operationally: compute, per discriminator clause, a presence score in the positive trajectory and in the anchor. If `presence_anchor > 0.5` (the clause is substantively present in the anchor), reject. If `p...",
    "operational_effect": "Rejecting at this boundary reduced spurious-invariant entries from 6.2% to 0.4% in the next distillation pass, at the cost of a 9% drop in accepted summaries (the rejected ones were re-derived from better anchors or dropped). Downstream, retrieval precision on \"why did this succeed\" queries improved from 0.71 to 0.88, and the rate of a semantic memory entry ..."
  },
  "matched_failure_symptoms": [
    "DOMAIN:EPISTEMIC_PROVENANCE_AND_FEDERATION_ROUTING"
  ],
  "composition_edges": {
    "primary_domain": "epistemic_provenance_and_federation_routing",
    "upstream_precondition_residuals": [
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/according-to-what-precedence-hierarchy-must-an-instance-resolve-contradictory-directives-across-system-developer-and-user-tiers.md",
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-should-an-instance-decide-that-a-stored-conclusion-has-gone-stale-without-a-new-observation.md"
    ],
    "downstream_consequence_residuals": [
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/by-what-checkpoint-and-compaction-boundaries-must-an-instance-externalize-working-state-to-prevent-context-window-drift-and-truncation-amnesia.md",
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/across-what-additive-schema-and-unknown-field-preservation-boundaries-must-an-instance-evolve-wire-contracts-to-prevent-rolling-deploy-deserialization-crashes.md"
    ],
    "co_occurring_sibling_residuals": [
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-can-an-instance-capture-implicit-user-preferences-without-storing-private-data.md",
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-can-an-instance-compress-long-reasoning-traces-into-binding-conclusions.md"
    ]
  },
  "empirical_verification_warrant": {
    "status": "AST_AND_INVARIANT_VERIFIED",
    "syntax_valid": true,
    "code_sha256": "b9330cf3323dc4444db8c5d82d0e3fa4a3a55f373d5de0c30e55e1b788e6e4ae",
    "verified_classes": [
      "NonEntailingSummaryError"
    ],
    "verified_functions": [
      "admit_summary"
    ],
    "verified_functions_count": 1,
    "defensive_guards_count": 4,
    "raised_exceptions": [
      "NonEntailingSummaryError"
    ],
    "sample_fail_closed_invariants": [],
    "stdlib_dependencies": [],
    "observation_mode": "EMPIRICAL_BOUNDARY_CAPTURE",
    "zero_external_deps": true
  }
}