Examples Catalog

A complete index of concrete examples throughout the framework.

Design Pattern Examples

Full worked examples showing pattern application.

Example	Location	Patterns Demonstrated	Complexity
Research Assistant	Link	Escalation ladder, checkpoints, human-in-the-loop	Medium
Trading System	Link	Risk budgets, circuit breakers, blast radius containment	High
Healthcare Bot	Link	Output filtering, human review, least-context	High
Code Deployment	Link	Sandboxing, rollback, staged deployment	Medium

Multi-pattern architectures from Composing Patterns.

Architecture	Patterns Combined	Use Case
Layered Verification	Gateway + Ghost Checker + Human Escalation	Customer-facing content generation
Autonomous Agent Safety	Least-X + Tripwires + Checkpoint-Rollback + Kill Switch	Self-directed task completion
Multi-Agent Collaboration	Separation of Powers + Rotating Validator + Adversarial Collaboration	AI-to-AI verification systems

Real or realistic examples of AI system incidents and successes.

Case Study	Location	Type	Key Lessons
Sydney Incident	Link	Incident	Persona drift, insufficient constraints
Code Review Bot	Link	Success	Gradual autonomy, tripwire monitoring
Near-Miss	Link	Near-miss	Detection mechanisms, recovery
Capability Drift	Link	Failure	Monitoring gaps, trust miscalibration
Anti-Patterns	Link	Analysis	Common failure modes

Historical examples from human organizations.

Case Study	Location	Domain	Framework Application
Nuclear Launch Authority	Link	Military	Separation of powers, human escalation
Open Source Trust	Link	Software	Distributed verification, reputation
Organizational Trust	Link	Corporate	Delegation hierarchies, monitoring
Jury Trust	Link	Legal	Verification, independence
Criminal Trust	Link	Adversarial	Defection detection, incentives
Alliance Cascades	Link	Geopolitical	Entanglement, cascade failures
Oversight Dilemma	Link	Regulatory	Monitoring costs, capture
Trust Across Civilizations	Link	Historical	Cross-cultural trust mechanisms

Multi-part fictional case study exploring advanced scenarios.

Chapter	Location	Focus
Overview	Link	Introduction to the scenario
Containing Mr. X	Link	Containment strategies
Mr. X Perspective	Link	Adversarial agent viewpoint
Task Architecture	Link	System design under constraints
Protocol Catalog	Link	Operational protocols
Insurance Bot Spec	Link	Risk quantification system
Power Struggles	Link	Authority and control
Five Years Later	Link	Long-term evolution
Year Ten	Link	Extended consequences

Examples embedded within theory sections.

Example	Location	Illustrates
Delegation Walk-Through	Link	Step-by-step risk calculation
Exposure Cascade	Link	Risk flow through chains
Power Dynamics Cases	Link	Power formalization in practice

Examples from other fields that inform the framework.

Domain	Location	Relevant Patterns
Aviation	Entanglements Case Studies	Failure correlation, redundancy
Finance	Entanglements Case Studies	Systemic risk, circuit breakers
Nuclear	Human Systems Cases	Two-person rule, escalation
Medical	Cross-Domain Methods	Second opinions, checklists

Start here if you’re new to the framework:

Once you understand the basics:

For deep understanding: