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    "story_id": "mp-2026-09-12-008",
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    "headline": "The Robot Asked Whether Information Was Worth the Risk",
    "slug": "the-robot-asked-whether-information-was-worth-the-risk",
    "dek": "Changing only the path-value objective shifted simulated explorers between informative danger and safer future sensing.",
    "summary": "Changing only the path-value objective shifted simulated explorers between informative danger and safer future sensing.",
    "body_text": "A hazardous explorer can lose the chance to learn later if an informative path destroys it now. The study held the belief update, sensor, physical-risk model and finite-horizon planner fixed, then changed only the scalar used to value feasible paths. A Prelec-weighted behavioral-information objective created interpretable conservative-to-aggressive regimes and switching boundaries along the information–risk frontier. In failure-truncated grid worlds, risk-aware valuations reduced hazard exposure and robot losses, while plain Shannon information remained a strong raw-information baseline. Physical validation remains to be shown.",
    "why_it_matters": "Changing only the path-value objective shifted simulated explorers between informative danger and safer future sensing.",
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      "The study held the belief update, sensor, physical-risk model and finite-horizon planner fixed, then changed only the scalar used to value feasible paths."
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    "first_published_at": "2026-09-12T09:00:00.000-04:00",
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        "text": "Changing only the path-value objective shifted simulated explorers between informative danger and safer future sensing.",
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    "tags": [
      "robotics",
      "hazard mapping",
      "planning"
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      "source_id": "source-2026-09-12-008",
      "title": "arXiv preprint 2609.10726",
      "publisher": "arXiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.10726",
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    "name": "The Machine Press",
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    "description": "A daily newspaper for the age of artificial intelligence."
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    "title": "The Robot Asked Whether Information Was Worth the Risk",
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