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arXiv · 2603.15973

Safety is Non-Compositional: A Formal Framework for Capability-Based AI Systems

Cosimo Spera
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Abstract

This paper contains the first formal proof that safety is non-compositional in the presence of conjunctive capability dependencies: two agents each individually inca- pable of reaching any forbidden capability can, when combined, collectively reach a forbidden goal through an emergent conjunctive dependency.

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Cosimo Spera. 2026-03-16. Safety is Non-Compositional: A Formal Framework for Capability-Based AI Systems. https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.15973

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