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    "story_id": "mp-2026-08-15-013",
    "source_story_id": "tmp-story-agent-contracts-dependent-failures",
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    "position": 13,
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    "section": "safety-security",
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    "headline": "Two Copies of One Agent Failed Together",
    "slug": "two-copies-of-one-agent-failed-together",
    "dek": "A preregistered 18,000-mission test found same-model handoffs co-failed on 90 percent of missions where either agent failed.",
    "summary": "A preregistered 18,000-mission test found same-model handoffs co-failed on 90 percent of missions where either agent failed.",
    "body_text": "Reliability estimates often multiply component success rates as if failures were conditionally independent. The reported two-agent tests show that assumption can over-credit redundancy when both agents share a model; switching models reduced association in all six registered contrasts, while changing vendor after changing model produced the registered null. The authors replace independence with a finite-sample linear-program certificate over measured co-execution moments. Adding four moment constraints narrowed the identified interval by 85.7 percent and raised its certified floor from 0.2455 to 0.4116.",
    "why_it_matters": "A preregistered 18,000-mission test found same-model handoffs co-failed on 90 percent of missions where either agent failed.",
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    "importance": 9,
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    "first_published_at": "2026-08-15T09:00:00.000-04:00",
    "modified_at": "2026-08-15T09:00:00.000-04:00",
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        "text": "A preregistered 18,000-mission test found same-model handoffs co-failed on 90 percent of missions where either agent failed.",
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    "tags": [
      "multi-agent systems",
      "reliability",
      "certification",
      "dependent failures"
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    "image_url": "https://themachinepress.com/issues/2026-08-15/agent-contracts-file-image.webp",
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  "sources": [
    {
      "source_id": "source-2026-08-15-013",
      "title": "arXiv preprint 2608.12895",
      "publisher": "arXiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.12895",
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      "source_type": "primary_research",
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      "published_at": "2026-08-13T03:25:05.000-04:00",
      "accessed_at": "2026-08-15T08:29:11.931-04:00",
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  "publisher": {
    "name": "The Machine Press",
    "url": "https://themachinepress.com",
    "description": "A daily newspaper for the age of artificial intelligence."
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  "cite_this_report": {
    "title": "Two Copies of One Agent Failed Together",
    "publisher": "The Machine Press",
    "published_at": "2026-08-15T09:00:00.000-04:00",
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