CHRIS HAY

IDEAS · SYSTEMS · OBJECTS / LONDON · 2026

Chris Hay / Notebook / N-MACHINE-DISCOVERY

The site was there. The agent never saw it.

Working papers · 8 spreads

Sources, citation & publication record

Can an AI find a working web capability without its address?

None of six subjects without the address reached LLM Wilds. All three given its domain found the machine contract and used it correctly. Three generic searches found other providers. This target failed to appear in the subjects’ search results; the study does not separate indexing, retrieval and ranking.

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MACHINE-DISCOVERY-1 tested whether a useful web capability could enter a Codex agent's consideration set. None of six subjects given a generic need or the target's distinctive phrases reached LLM Wilds, while all three subjects given its domain navigated to the machine contract and returned the rotating value. Three generic subjects discovered and used other machine-facing providers. The result locates this target's failure before selection, in the search view available to the subjects, rather than in capability recognition or use.

N-MACHINE-DISCOVERYSUPPORTEDRECORDED 2026-09-13PAGE UPDATED PUBLISHED · V1.1CITE ↓FOLLOW ↓

PUBLICATION HISTORY

Each version preserves its manuscript, claims and source references. Research status is recorded separately from publication.

  1. V1.0 · 2026-09-13 ↗

    Initial publication of MACHINE-DISCOVERY-1: nine audited subjects locate the target's failure in search exposure before selection. SUPPORTED

    MANUSCRIPT JSON ↗ · BIBTEX ↗ · CSL JSON ↗

  2. V1.1 · 2026-09-13 ↗

    Rewrote the reading sequence and visual explanations; clarified exposure, crawler attribution and the untested retrieval counterfactual without changing recorded outcomes. SUPPORTED

    MANUSCRIPT JSON ↗ · BIBTEX ↗ · CSL JSON ↗

MACHINE-READABLE HISTORY ↗

SOURCES & PROVENANCE

AUTHOR / Chris Hay · VERSION / 1.1

PUBLISHED 13 SEP 2026 · REVISED 13 SEP 2026 · VERSION 1.1

CITE

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Research note · 1.1

Hay, C. (2026). The site was there. The agent never saw it. (Version 1.1). Chris Hay. https://chrishayuk.com/records/N-MACHINE-DISCOVERY/1.1