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    "story_id": "mp-2026-10-08-015",
    "source_story_id": "tmp-sidebar-reasoning-token-untruthful-spikes",
    "edition_id": "mp-2026-10-08-morning-0090",
    "edition_url": "https://themachinepress.com/edition/2026-10-08",
    "position": 17,
    "story_type": "ticker",
    "section": "safety-security",
    "editorial_classification": "editorial",
    "headline": "Untruthful Prompts Used More Reasoning Tokens",
    "slug": "untruthful-prompts-used-more-reasoning-tokens",
    "dek": "Three models spent more tokens when explicitly told to lie or ignore truth, a group-level signal that is not yet a deception detector.",
    "summary": "Three models spent more tokens when explicitly told to lie or ignore truth, a group-level signal that is not yet a deception detector.",
    "body_text": "Across 210 multiple-choice questions, truth-directed responses used fewer reasoning tokens than lie-directed or truth-indifferent responses in all three tested reasoning models. The result does not establish instance-level detection, spontaneous deception or robustness under adversarial pressure; it identifies a content-independent candidate signal for future study.",
    "why_it_matters": "Three models spent more tokens when explicitly told to lie or ignore truth, a group-level signal that is not yet a deception detector.",
    "limitations": [
      "The result does not establish instance-level detection, spontaneous deception or robustness under adversarial pressure; it identifies a content-independent candidate signal for future study."
    ],
    "importance": 6,
    "canonical_url": "https://themachinepress.com/story/mp-2026-10-08-015/untruthful-prompts-used-more-reasoning-tokens",
    "json_url": "https://themachinepress.com/story/mp-2026-10-08-015.json",
    "first_published_at": "2026-10-08T09:00:00.000-04:00",
    "modified_at": "2026-10-08T09:00:00.000-04:00",
    "content_status": "new",
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    "carryover_reason": null,
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        "text": "Three models spent more tokens when explicitly told to lie or ignore truth, a group-level signal that is not yet a deception detector.",
        "source_ids": [
          "source-2026-10-08-017"
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        "qualification": "The result does not establish instance-level detection, spontaneous deception or robustness under adversarial pressure; it identifies a content-independent candidate signal for future study."
      }
    ],
    "source_ids": [
      "source-2026-10-08-017"
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    "tags": [
      "deception",
      "reasoning tokens",
      "monitoring"
    ],
    "image_url": null,
    "corrections": []
  },
  "sources": [
    {
      "source_id": "source-2026-10-08-017",
      "title": "arXiv preprint 2610.10405",
      "publisher": "arXiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.10405",
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      "source_type": "primary_research",
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      "published_at": "2026-10-07T12:53:11.000-04:00",
      "accessed_at": "2026-10-08T08:26:48.909-04:00",
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  "corrections": [],
  "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": "Untruthful Prompts Used More Reasoning Tokens",
    "publisher": "The Machine Press",
    "published_at": "2026-10-08T09:00:00.000-04:00",
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